A Cold Coming We Had of It

By Cheryl Caesar

I was stunned -- and I expect you were too -- to see busloads of immigrants dumped in front of VP Harris's house on Christmas Eve. Shivering in the DC cold, in t-shirts and shorts, as they had left Texas 31 hours before. The thin blankets they were given drape like robes, and all at once we can see the Holy Family seeking shelter. (The travelers had children and babies with them.) Or consider the Magi: they would never have made it to the stable were it not for the sacred laws of hospitality which compel us to shelter travelers and the homeless. How have we so forgotten these precepts? They are framed by two large shapes. On the left is the large, well-lit bus. It looks warm and inviting. Is it taking them to safety? On the right, red lights are flashing. Police cars. Will they be arrested, jailed, separated from their children? They don't know, and yet they must go forward. 

The caption is from the first line of T. S. Eliot's poem "The Journey of the Magi." Read NPR article on the busing of immigrants on Christmas Eve.

(Editors’ note: While we are aware of T.S. Eliot’s antisemitism, we feel that the artist’s intent with this artwork was to convey the inhumanity of this unconscionable situation. We believe that the T.S. Eliot line she chose to signify this message is an apt fit for the image and story depicted.) 

Cheryl Caesar studied comparative literature at the Sorbonne, and now teaches writing at Michigan State University. She serves as secretary for the Lansing Poetry Club, whose recent collaboration with the Poets’ Club of Chicago, Words Across the Water II, features her poetry and artwork. (Available from Fractal Edge Press.)