One young boy – solitary in death –

one small boy alone, face down on the sand

of a Turkish beach –

one small boy clad in a red t-shirt,

touching our hearts with his perfect stillness,

a life yet unlived –  a life ended way too soon.

He has a  name – Aylan Kurdi

and his heartbreaking reality devastated me.

His image – not surprisingly, haunts me.

I must acknowledge that no parents

would put their child in such peril unless the war

they’re fleeing is much worse than the risks they willingly

took trying to escape. He should be playing in the sand

on the beach – not lying dead, washed ashore by

waves that also delivered the dead bodies of his

brother and mother. His father has been left to

face the future alone.

What will it take for us to realize we are all human?

What can I possibly do to ease the suffering of others?

These questions haunt my waking thoughts and dwell

in my dreams. The conundrum of being human in an

inhumane world.