Perhaps

Perhaps it was always there

That dark beast lurking in the depth of our souls

but now essential selfishness has been released,

and roams like a wild animal freed from its cage

savaging us

ripping apart our souls

taking away our essential self

devouring the divinity that once was part of us

until we are different creatures

no longer able to see the people the front of us

with the eyes of compassion

no longer able to look beyond ourselves

this lurking beast constrains our hearts

We look dispassionately at those struggling toward our border

Something has been lost

We cannot feel with the heart, or see with the eyes of the other

The beast refuses let us experience the pounding note that plays in other heads

as they run from all they have ever known

fleeing into the unknown,

to here,

to be met with a closed border,

a wall,

a fist,

a finger,

a canister of tear gas.

To be met with indifference

Or worse, enmity

We cannot feel the panic of the child

The pain of the mother, holding her baby close

The agony of the young woman, who has endured rape and violences

To make it to this place

The helplessness of the father, unable to protect

We can only see

brown and somewhat dirty bodies

And dark eyes

A threat, a menace

We cannot see that these are children of God

Beloved

By the one who is love

Perhaps it has always been this way

Stories of such moments abound

Adam looking furtively over his shoulder

Abraham headed from the known to the unknown

Tired refugees, seeking a promised land

A baby named Jesus, fleeing with his parents to a distant land

While other children die, in the village they left behind

But this is now

And this is our story

This is our moment

O God who is love

Awaken in us the Spirit

Awaken in us love

Help us conquer this savagery that denies

Our Divine Inheritance

Help us to open our eyes, our hearts

Our arms

To welcome those who come

To welcome you, as you come