<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The Mother</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">You thought that you</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">would be treated like a person.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">You thought that you would</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">be classed</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">as a human being.</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">someone with needs</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">and feelings.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">Just because you had</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">lived here</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">for 20 years,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">no major transgressions,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">no record of</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">significant misdoings.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">Even though you had worked</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">for years as a seamstress,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">or sometimes at</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">Hardy's,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">taking orders,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">helping out in the kitchen.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">Even though your</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">eldest daughter</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">now works in a bank</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">while she finishes her degree,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">and the young ones</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">do well in school.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">They said</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">you might be</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">a rapist, or</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">a terrorist</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">ready to harm</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">their country,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">the place where their ancestors settled</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">so many years ago.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">Once your ancestors</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">owned this land,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">they took it away</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">and now it is theirs.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">Now they are building</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">a wall,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">one very, very high,</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">to keep you out.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">They say it will be</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">beautiful.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">I wonder if there</span><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;">are walls in heaven.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Dorothy Walters</span></div></body></html>