on concrete floors

under aluminum foil blankets

staring into gray walls

wailing until their lungs collapsed

as guards surveyed them

from watchtowers high above

Because the babies lay in cribs

without being touched

or spoken to

or looked at

Because the children were taken

from their mothers and fathers

never to be fed by them again

Because the criminals

are government officials

border patrol agents

immigration and customs

enforcement officers

Because this entire country is

encaged

isolated

and gray

Because they torture us

and intern us

shoot us in the streets

and loath us for who we are