41. Monuments to Dust

fire doesn’t work | might be the motto

of this day | fire doesn’t work

burn it all down | burn us all down

and we will rise up | shoots of green

through black burnt soil | we will

rise up | once again | can’t hold

can’t hold a voice back | too long

can’t keep | can’t keep a breath out

either | we breathe our words

we breathe them in | and we breathe

them right back out | every time

we feel | the world around us as

our home | refreshed by our voices

as we by its life | fire can’t burn us

for we are but breath | we are not

skin | neither are we bone

not even pulsing blood | we rise

up out of our bodies | we breathe

forth from our selves | we give life

to the possibility of our thought

 

water won’t drown us | can’t even

touch us | slips around the

contours of | flows in curves

to miss us | doesn’t have a plan

only a purpose | to avoid our

touch | for we cannot move

in the sight of water | we stand

for it | we live through it

the floods might come | to cover

us | to push us | to force us

down | yet we do not fall and

we do not drown | we stand

our eyes clear | our purpose

true | the history of all our

injustices | ringing through

the sluicing waters | the rain

the flood | and we see through

the water to justice | and we

stand firm against | these forces

against us | we stand

 

they cannot pull | with ropes | us

down | they cannot tie a noose

around our neck | to stop our

breath | they cannot break

our necks | or crack our bones

or keep our breath | still

we breathe | and we see | we

can see the whole of our past

the petty present | filled with

hate for our cause | the righteous

future | when they will again

admire our history | a heritage

of freedom | a people bound

together to protect | our culture

to remember | our brave

ancestors | who fought against

this tyranny | and we fight

and we still fight | because they

cannot | burn us with fire or

drown us with water | we wait