Little Boy Drowned Poem by Richard Theze

Little Boy Drowned
A Response to the Death of Aylan Kurdi

You did not deserve to die in the coldness of water,
To drown in the distant, dispassionate depths of human indifference.
No migrant, you, nor refugee, but a little boy- just three,
Washed, bare legs, small shoes, face down
Upon an unfamiliar shore.

Your race, no matter now, nor ever should, you belonged to us,
Yet, backs turned, we overlooked your need to play
Safe away from the threats of violence and war,
Failed too, to notice those who risked all to give you a better life,
Their hope, your end, such a bitter irony.

Others, too, have died, many, cast adrift upon callous seas,
A million deaths, perhaps, statistics all,
But yours: the single death of a little boy drowned - a tragedy,
Internationally, now, the bellowed demands echo
That something be done.