BLOOD TIES

by Susanne Sande

we think we are
disconnected
...our worlds
shattered
in an unthinking instant
of gunfire, words
torn apart as they are spoken
loved ones dragged from us
by death which comes
from trying to establish sanity
in the right place
at the wrong time.

May 4th
was such a place
where people raised cries
like birds in the wind
beckoning
setting out to make a statement
with their voices
and instead making one
with their lives

they were
fifth amendment sacrifices
unconsenting

we wonder, those of us
left behind
what to do with the bottles
of their memory
how to honor
the unfinished places
they were supposed
to occupy,
now empty at the table

do we just preserve them
or do them justice
in some more consequential way
by standing for what they did
can we hand out souveneirs
that might light
new fires of courage
in human hands-flames
that inspire
not destroy?

if we each take one
step in, stand out, reach up
we can take on
where they left off
as in 1919, on another May 4th
when Chinese students
began a rolling stone of revolutions
toward democracy
that have taken more lives
than we have ever known

are the May 4ths coincidence?
or are they a blood tie
binding allies
of peace into a full circle
of humanity?

make the most
of the May 4th memories, be
one small difference
that lingers like color in a rainbow
a living prism of vision
leaving footprint impressions
of a better world.

Home

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws