| I Say No! |
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I Say No!
New York — Cesar Chelala
No to bruised flowers,
No to the air and soil turned sour,
No to food laced with poisons.
No to trafficking children,
No to children’s shoes
scattered among collapsed buildings.
No to nurseries turned dark,
No to politicians without honor,
No to those who play deadly chess
with living, trembling pieces.
No to uprooted trees and people,
No to stolen lands and homes,
No to the pillaging of distant countries,
No to schools reduced to rubble,
No to wars fought for profit,
No to any act that makes human beings
less human.
No to forgetting compassion,
No to making a life built on lies,
No to freeing the guilty
and imprisoning the just.
We have the means
to build a better world.
If we can touch the stars with our open hands,
why must we walk into the fire?
By Paola Bilancieri |
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