Stand now and remember

On the 10th anniversary of one such September 11th...

For all the dead of all our September 11ths,

for India, South Africa and Attica,

for Chile, Haiti, and NYC, my birthplace:

Know that our resistance shall be infinite

and the lies of the purveyors of violence

shall be lit up by sunshine glinting off our tears.

Gandhi knew that only nonviolence

and personal sacrifice could defeat

the stranglehold of the British masters.

Allende, the hope of the Chileans

knew that one day his countrymen and women

would reconstruct their own futures.

Mandela sat, studied and survived for freedom

and Aristide waited seven years in 

South Africa to return to his people.

The ghosts of the twin towers stand over us

begging more questions than answers about

how we will fashion the remainder of our years.

Each corpse in the street, each dead family

is awaiting a justice that must come and

will come when we wake up to who we are.

Those who need to massacre to keep power

to steal resources and make themselves fatter

shall find themselves at the back of the jailhouse.

People are starving for food and for love;

they are emerging from caves and snakepits

to pick up invisible arms of righteousness.

Only when we see ourselves in the other,

when we stand up for the weakest amongst us,

when we cherish and protect all our children,

will our calvacade toward September 11th stop

and each day for a moment we shall stand

and remember the end of corruption and violence.

Stand now and remember together:

Vow unto death not for revenge but for justice

and then go out and make it happen.

 8 septembre 2011