For Alex Jeffrey Pretti
Murdered by federal agents January 24, 2026
by Amanda Gorman
We wake with
no words, just woe
& wound. Our own country shoot
ing us in the back is not just brutal
ity; it’s jarring betrayal; not enforcement,
but execution. A message: Love your people & you
will die. Yet our greatest threat isn’t the outsiders
among us, but those among us who never look
within. Fear not the those without papers, but those
without conscience. Know that to care intensively,
united, is to carry both pain-dark horror for today
& a profound, daring hope for tomorrow. We can feel
we have nothing to give, & still belove this world wait
ing, trembling to change. If we cannot find words, may
we find the will; if we ever lose hope, may we never lose our
humanity. The only undying thing is mercy, the courage to open
ourselves like doors, hug our neighbor,
& save one more bright, impossible life.
