Ronald Moran
YOUNG DEATH IN CHINA
A two-year old girl was hit by a van in China;
and while
the van stopped, no one got out, the van started
up, running
over her again, and more people noticed the girl
lying
in the street, but did nothing to remove her before
another
vehicle swerved but still hit her and did not stop,
nonetheless;
and I am trying to think, in the safe comfort
of my den,
how could this happen, and where else could
it happen—
raw, insensitive—and whatever adjectives I can
conjure up,
anywhere, and how can anyone leave a toddler,
now dead,
in the middle of road and the people pass by her,
and I think
of why my late Jane never wanted to drive after
witnessing,
close up, when she was ten, a three-year old girl
run over
on Black Rock Avenue in New Britain, near home;
and like Jane
I will never forget what I saw distributed by Chinese
TV,
and I know Jane would have run out to the street,
picked
her up, and carried her, just carried her, wherever
she had to go.
Bio: Ronald Moran is the author of a dozen collections of poetry and several volumes of literary criticism. Professor Emeritus at Clemson University, he lives in Simpsonville, SC.
Wild Goose Poetry Review 
A slice of the life we all need to see, however little we prefer to be blind. I’m impressed, of course.
Hey Joan,
I will never forget the clip of that killing. When I see something like that and read of the daily slaughters in the mideast and in sub-Saharan Africa, I am glad I am as old as I am.
Take care,
Ronald Moran