i drove past the hospital today

like i do everyday on my way to and from work

and like everyday i get a little shiver 

      thinking about the people inside

      how they’re treated, if they’re afraid 

and like everyday traffic stops dead because the lights are never timed right

but today unlike other days which are set in routine, 

the traffic stopped on green

because of 8 people walking and pacing quietly and determinately up and down the walk

holding signs and grudges and pictures of aborted fetuses 

and among this group of 8 were 3 children

all of them just as determined and quiet as their adult shadows

normally i can ignore it

but something snapped

i wanted to pull over and grab them by their biblically infected ears 

and ask them what in the hell could they be thinking by dragging children into this

maybe i’d ask how in the world they could pump hate into small ears 

but all i could do was watch as the 3 kids kept marching with dead eyes

and think how ironic it is that a group of people bent on saving proposed lives 

could ignore the death around them