Unspeakable Savagery

Dandara dos Santos, a transgender woman,

Lived in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Although we know very little about her,

The fate that befell her should make you feel ill.

 

The woman, forty-two years old,

Was dragged from her home by a cruel group of thugs

Out into the street of the town

Where she met with kicks and slugs.

 

The vicious and violent attackers beat her--

Also using a plank of wood--

While she pleaded and begged for her life

On the cobblestone street of the neighborhood.

 

They dumped her into a filthy wheelbarrow

And took her to an alley where shortly thereafter

Dandara died from repeated beatings

Amid cold-blooded taunts and laughter.

 

What is wrong with humanity

That humans can be so animalistic?

Two hundred ninety-five transgender people

Were murdered last year°--an ugly statistic.

 

Dandara, most of us didn't know you,

And yet we know that you by far

Outvalue the hateful brutes that killed you.

Rest in peace, wherever you are.

 

(3-8-17) By Bob B

 

°From Oct 1, 2015 to Sep 1, 2016, worldwide