Lost Child

The child rocks back and forth
Shivering in the bleak night of a Russian winter
A blanket full of holes
Maggots crawling in the bedsheets
Her bony limbs contorted ‘round her breast
Scant defenders against the onslaught of the wind.

You will not hear her crying
You will not see her tears
Half a world away is easy to ignore
But the heart knows
What governments and egos and wallets must deny.

The snow falls with the relentlessness of Time
Claiming the lives of the helpless and abandoned
But the death of an innocent
Cannot be easily buried in the conscience of Man
Choices must be made
But who has the courage to touch the suffering?