Little Girl Études

They throw stones at the little girls

Over and over they throw stones

They who are their fathers

They who are their brothers

___

They burn the veil of  the little girl

The pink one, her favorite

Not too short, not too long

With gilded filigree, they burn it

___

They play double Dutch with the little girl

Jump, jump

They are surprised by her fast feet

Amazed at her swift tongue

___

Birdie birdie in the sky

Dropped some whitewash in my eye

Birdie birdie in the sky

Gee, I’m glad that cows don’t fly

___

They like to chase the little girl

Up the block, through the narrow alley

Through the barbwire, onto the roof

Over the train tracks, down the gulch

___

They point their finger at the little girl

They shout, “brat, maggot, whore

Come back and feed your brother

And wash the floor!”

___

They like to hit the little girl

The big one might hit back

And wait till the wee hours

To whack you with an ax

___

They kidnap little girls, Chibok school girls

Make them sex slaves and kitchen slaves

They like to kidnap Yazidi girls

Sabine girls, daughters of Shiloh

___

They like to sell little girls, up the river

For a few pounds of opium, a thousand American dollars

She’s just a girl

What does it matter

___

They like to adopt little girls, from distant orphanages

“They make lovely daughters; the boys aren’t easy

They climb the walls and are dyslexic

And the Asian girls are, you know, smarter”

___

They like to bury little girls

Mounds in Nanking, in abandoned churchyards

Around the maquiladoras, along a border fence

Marked by wilted flowers and a crooked cross

___

To everything there is a season

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to grieve, a time to dance

A time to throw stones, a time to gather them

A time for little girls in heaven