poetic gift

In the email, I received a wonderful gift: several poems from Rosalie Zerrudo. So, this week, posting one of the poems each day.

Poem for the dead people

i walk the empty streets with thousands of footsteps

in honor of my people

who have fertilized mass graveyards

as I hold in my hand the ashes of injustice

that covered the tombs of my forefathers

for the glory of a deliberate tyranny

at the expense of the intellectuals



i can see the spark inside my eyes
the spirit that never dies
the soul of the dead people
that lives in me
the history of their pain
the story never told
the man never buried
are all in my eyes
which have seen so much
and cried oceans of protests

in the face of injustice

i march the streets today

with a new haircut

for as I look at myself in the mirror
as a symbol of renewed spirit

i invite change
in our society
so flowers of peace
shall grow
in rivers of blood
and bloom out of
the earth in farms of cadavers

as I march the streets of the dead
let my sweat
clean the soul
of the poor leader
who committed
the greatest mistake
mankind will never forget

today
we bury the past
as we open doors
for forgiveness
and light our incense
as a metaphor
of bringing back the dead
to life
so
their votes will be counted
their children will be born
their diplomas will be framed
their country will be proud
their mothers will attend their weddings
their love will bear children
their dreams will stand next to us
like wild flowers that thrive in the heat
their visions will be painted
like rainbows in the sky
their tears shall come down with the rain
their pens shall write poetry
their songs shall put us to a sound sleep
their names will be written
their lives are not wasted

we march again the streets
to renew our vision
for a society rooted
in the social justice
that serves breakfast
with scrambled sentiments
peppered with human rights
added to the sunny side of change