A Prayer for Josseline

A PRAYER FOR JOSSELINE


Josseline was fourteen
When she left El Salvador
To follow in the footsteps
Of those who went before
Along sand swept migrant trails she walked
With her brother close behind
Knowing soon she’d see her mother
Across the borderline

Somewhere outside Tucson
In the harsh Sonora heat
A young man called by justice
Marched heavy on his feet
Heading south along the trail
Where the thirsty fall unseen
Leaving jugs of water
For those like Josseline

Chorus:
A child lies alone tonight
Just south of the borderline
Her slow (last) breath travels on the wind
With the lonesome coyote’s whine
Miles and miles of men with guns
And no one hears her prayers
There’s no room in the Promised Land
For those who weren’t born there

The desert deals no mercy
And dreams can’t quench a thirst
Josseline fell ill
And with each step she just got worse
She sent her brother on ahead
And she lay her body down
Closed her eyes against the night
And waited to be found

Days later as the sun set
The young man headed home
He found her there along the trail
Cold, still and all alone



He rushed to kneel beside her
Though he knew it was too late
And he cursed the lines upon the map
That damned her to this fate

Chorus

A few weeks in the papers
A flash upon the screen
A prayer to Mother Mary
For the soul of Josseline
They lay her little body
In a lonely patch of ground
No family there to mourn her
‘Cause la migra’d hunt ‘em down

See the men who watch the borders
With their razor wire and guns
Guarding us from children
Who thirst beneath the sun
Families full of hope and fear
Eyes on the Promised Land
Die to cross a crooked line
Drawn in the shifting sand

Chorus
Repeat Last Half of Chorus

By Katherine Downing, Nathan Moore, and Dennis Soper
©2009