#2043 - crossing the bridge

 

2043

6.216

4.viii.25   

crossing the bridge

salaam – shalom

 

not to celebrate, vindicate

not to venerate

death or its many sided cults

 

not to call for revenge

not because some dusty book said this or that

back before you remember

 

not because one tribe is right

or one flag better

or anyone’s organized religion

is less ridiculous than another

 

not because calling on gods will do good

(it does nothing!)

 

not to deny reality

or pretend eternal rights

not to pretend that old skybeards can give you things

not to acceptoiled up  cleanshaven power

 

not because anything is forever

(nothing is, you know –

not the ground underfoot

not the stars in the sky)

 

not to call murderers heroes

not to call the haters martyrs

 

not to let them away playing ‘democracy’

when it’s just for your family and friends

 

not for the sake of rhetorical flourish

 

not for hate

but against hate

 

to call for the killing to end

an end of the silence and the wink

that ‘they don’t matter’, ‘they’re not like us’

‘shhh! there’s money here in the bomb bay parts

we’ll never call them weapons’

 

not with the mildest of admonitions

to pretend a way out of complicity

not to keep silent in the face of crime

not to turn away

but to witness

 

to let the world know our eyes are open

we see the atrocity

we see those who say they represent us

do nothing

but throw some more fuel on the fire

 

it takes a little backbone

not to roll over when unjustly accused

not to let the bigots paint you into a corner

 

to say

NO MORE

no more weapons to them, no more money for killing

 

to stand up to say

NO MORE IN MY NAME

 

because one life is worth as much as another

because the victims of history can have their victims too

because we are humans

because peace is our purpose

because all deserve to be equally free

 

because crimes against humanity are crimes against us all

 

that’s why the tens of thousands crossed the bridge together yesterday

to say – enough of murder, of heartlessness

to say enough of lies

 

let peace be upon the world and us all