I’m not a singer, but please
let me sing of the peacemakers
on the campus, Columbia, Harvard, UCLA, Austin…
your neck in the grip of police hands
your hands cuffed, ribs broken, body tazered, kicked, stomped upon
But you keep coming: Give Peace a Chance
your souls singing from grass roots
and trees, from your pit of conscience
I’m not a prayer, but please,
please give my voice to the young and old
in Gaza, fleeing from north to south, from desert to the sea
no food, no water, no hope, only 2000 pound bombs at their heels
please give my ears to the 29,000 weapons dropped on the strip
and my sight to our humanity up in smoke
please give my hands to the mothers and children
raking through rubble for their loved ones
my tears to those buried in collapsed buildings
Over 100,000 dead or injured, the number still growing
I’m not a citizen, but please
count my vote against the myth
that the American way is the only way
count it against the blasphemy of free speech and belief
against a gang of thugs donning crowns
on their own heads, who live for power
and power only, whose only goal is
to rob and loot, whose mouths move
only to crush, whose hands open to a killing
field, whose fists close into a grave
I’m not a historian, but please
allow my memories of students fighting
Against Vietnam, Iraq and many other wars
John Lennon’s songs, Allen Ginsberg’s howling
David Shapiro smoking cigar in the president’s office
and protests squashed by tear gas, bats, jails, expulsions…
but keep coming back like leaves of grass, fire after fire
writing and rewriting the history of America
I’m no longer a professor, but please
let my body protect you on the ground
pinched against the concrete, under the horse hooves
let my tea quench your thirst
my food heal your bleeding bodies
let me sit with you in tents and jails
let them ban, expel and fire us again and again
as we hold the backbone of America
conscience of the world
I’m not a worshiper, but please
accept my faith in your tomorrow
as you refuse to believe in painted lies,
refuse to join this chorus of hypocrisy,
refuse to sell out, to let your conscience sleep,
wither, die. Please accept my faith
as you cross the fence to give peace a chance
sleep on streets and campus to give peace a chance
as your light shines on our path in this darkest night
as your blood thaws the frozen ground
your tents blossom in this bleak age
I don’t possess a bomb, don’t know
how to shoot or thrust a sword
All I have is a poet’s broken voice
a heart immense with sorrow
But please, please take them
let them be part of your tsunami
of chanting, your chant of awakening
for peace, shalom, salam, 和平 heping heping heping ...