| Redemption |
| The ones who will redeem us for this are coming. They are in the wombs of pregnant women parading in the streets. They will dance the dances; they will sing the songs. What will be the words? We would write for them the songs, For we, like all good parents, want easier lives for our children. We would prepare their way but we do not know the words they must sing We have long since forgotten them The bombs and the guns have muted them in our memory The innocent are digging their nails in our chest � scratching at our hearts � Only to find the zealots have already been there, lived there, fought there, and left their walls behind But they will remember them as we should have For today, in the wombs, they are already crying. They are singing, dancing, and listening to the beating drums of their mother�s hearts They are wondering what life it is that must, by necessity, be so cold when theirs is so warm. They do not understand what makes people so different when life begins so much the same. The children, the unborn generations yet to come Will not forget these truths because we will not let them Or so we promise, as our ancestors promised us They will know that dreams can be reality So long as reality can be dreamt And the peace we have wished for will be theirs to make For we have failed And the child in our heart cries not for itself but for them instead Because our hearts already know all too well that all the vigil candles in the world will not Remember the words for them March 20, 2003 |