Under The Bridge In Del Rio, Texas USA

Under the bridge in Del Rio are stopped, stuck, stationed

Thousands of migrant Haitians, not Ukrainians

Frankly, if they were the latter, they wouldn’t be sanctioned

Detained, abased, mistreated and deported like Haitians

Like herds of cattle to detention centers in Mexico or in their Homeland

It’s asinine, sad, odious, and repugnant to see the barbaric treatments

And humiliations inflicted on them by the Border Patrol agents

Who themselves are descendants of poor and once desperate migrants

Migrants, like all of us, are simply seeking a better life on a different land

Let’s go back, in Savannah, Georgia, Haitians were needed then to fight

The enemies. It’s history, real stories, which can be found under the light

Of the past. The past never lies. One may wonder, why so many are fleeing?

What are they fleeing or and who are chasing these human beings?

Read the history of Haiti, Europe and the Americas and you’ll find out Haitians

Are black, not Europeans.

They are descendants of Africans

That’s why they’re not treated humanely like Jews or Ukrainians

Can you dig it? You got it? Do you comprehend the nomenclature?

The system does not want Blacks to aspire a decent or better future

Do you understand? Do you get the full and complete picture?

They offer Haitians crumbs and spoiled food which they feed dogs and cats

While they give to others on silver plates: steaks, burgers, hot dogs and snacks

Oh! Yes, indeed, this entire world is absolutely unjust and unfair

This is criminal, despicable. This is something that I cannot bare

Under the Mirabeau Bridge flow the Seine and lovers

Under the Del Rio, Texas bridge, Haitian survivors

Are mistreated for seeking a better life, a better future

Because their Homeland is infested with bloodthirsty gangsters

And corrupt politicians. Because Haiti is full of vampires, predators

And hardcore oppressors. Haitians like many dark-skinned individuals

Are customarily victims of abject racism and other unheard-of rituals

Must I constantly remember the pain and shame that I feel seeing

Human beings in distress and in danger? Oh! I am not eagerly waiting

For joy and fun after witnessing so much humiliation and misery

Days and nights, I cannot close, shut my eyes to rest; I am not sleepy

I am afraid to dream, to experience more shocks, havocs and nightmares

Life is not slow. Life flows. Dreams and hopes should not be so violent

For our brothers and sisters who are desperate and innocent

Under the Mirabeau Bridge flow the Seine and dreamers

Under the Del Rio Bridge are suffering countless survivors

Ring the bells of Justice, Liberty, Freedom and Equality

For our brothers and sisters in the world living in ignominy

Don’t stop ringing the bells so that the deaf and the weak

May hear them loud and clear. Our world is unfair, dishonest and sick.

P.S. This poem is dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Our Struggle.

Copyright © January 2023, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved.

Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poems.