At a meeting of Fort Collins Interfaith Council, where I first learned about ISAAC as a coalition of local churches committed to walking with immigrants and refugees in our local community, the presentation ended with a reading of this poem. As a mother and a grandmother, I never forgot the feelings I experienced when I heard the despair in these words. Since then, Our Saviour’s has joined the ISAAC coalition. I pray that we will continue to grow in our understanding and action on behalf of immigrants and refugees: https://isaacnoco.
Reflection: La Ruta de las Mujeres (The Women’s Route)
Written by Rev. Delle McCormick
I walk the path that you took
hours or days ago.
Stones and slope and thorns
threaten each step with
danger.
I see where you slept
under the mesquite tree
home to spiders, snakes, ants –
familiar to coyotes, Gila monsters,
God knows what.
A piece of plastic,
grass woven into the branches
for shade against the merciless sun,
a tuna can, toothbrush,
tortilla cloth, used bus ticket –
all part of your story,
your life lost in this desert.
Nearby a tiny silver spoon
engraved, a love letter,
your bible, a pair of panties,
birth control pills,
breast cancer medicine,
a baby bottle, diapers,
one chancla, perfume bottle,
a pair of pants with
a name and number written in the inseam.
O, what you leave behind
haunts me
I know you
Sister, mother, friend,
Lover, aunt.
Some day
we will all be held
accountable for your
your suffering, your loss.
Some day, we will
celebrate your courage,
your story, your making
your way to the Promised Land.
Some day we will name this Exodus
and thank God that
some of you make it
across.
Devotion by Beth DeHaven
