The Border Within

They have built a border:
At the dinner table, when they want their fruits and vegetables--
Between sweaty fields/ and their inherent privilege.

They have built a border:
At the car wash, when they want their luxury vehicles polished--spotless, sir,--
Between breaking backs /and their abundant vanity.

They have built a border:
Behind the white picket fence, when they want their luscious gardens groomed—a little less roses, sir--
Between the roots of honest labor/ and blooming decadence.

They have built a border:
At the drive-thru window, when they want fast food at an affordable price--
Between a minimum wage/ and artificial convenience.

They have built a border:
In their industry, when they want their factories fine-tuned--
Between utter diligence/ and mechanized indifference.

They have built a border:
At the curb of The Home Depot, when they want jornaleros for an extra hand--
Between urgent necessity for cheap labor/ and reactionary discrimination.

They have built a border:
At the Library of Congress, when they advocate the principles of the Declaration of Independence--
Between love of liberty/ and hypocritical hate,

They should burn the borders that tower, within:

So that the concept of equality may liberate confined hearts;
So that we may watch interior borders

T

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B

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Within the mind:

A mere memory of deceit;
A new century on the rise.