Into the night
cries for justice and rights
soar high in the void of air and glory
ending as the iron fist plunges into the throat
choking would be martyrs of freedom
grasping for words, garbled by fingers
muffling their power and mounting glory
stripped of flame and flight
Hands crawl for breath as the seasons
move in natural order of night and dread
into the night above Uganda and England
and Siberia and Scotland and Italy and Africa
and Germany and China and Greece
A ferment over the world
into the bright eyes of faith
searching for man's better self
and humaneness, release
to rise up and rise up and rise up
out of the dark waters
and tree-lined mountains
and believe in humanity
hovering near the wreckage
It is not enough
that flags might again their flying
that mountainous memorials are erected
or that we decorate the solemn graves
My friends, this is not the story of our end
but when we stand alone pretending nothing
the long root of humanity cracks and breaks
from its own useless girth
yielding dead leaves void of hope
Flame and wings my friends
soaring above the world
This, only this
will give humanity new cause to yearn,
reason to soar aloft above Iraq and Sweden
and Austria and Scandinavia and Afghanistan
and Cuba and Venezuela
flame and wings in a clear ferment
over the globe and the seas
into the eyes of those with head held high,
through jeering and dissenting crowds chanting,
"Let our freedom ring"...
AntiWar
Global Security (military ops)
