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