The news has been giddy with “who done it, was it homicide or suicide, how could they let this happen, whose gonna pay now” drivel. All over a vile pediphile’s untimely demise. But I’m still stuck. A little over a week ago, back to school shoppers were gunned down at a Walmart. Just a few days later, other children came home from their first day of school to find their parents missing. And still at our border there are no doubt children wasting away in cages because their parents had the audacity to seek safety for them. What parent wouldn’t do the same for their own children, faced with the threat of death or worse? I’ve been stewing on this Oviellejo for days. I had planned to write about the beautiful sunrise. It was beautiful. But somewhere someone is suffering, and my heart is bleeding. We can’t forget the children. We just can’t.

when children lose their innocence
no recompense

can make up for the damage wrought
it’s a dark spot

that festers slowly over time
it is a crime

ignoring it for a lifetime
can lead to callous, broken souls
no hope of ever being whole
no recompense, it’s a dark spot, it is a crime

~kat

The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.