tp160.xml

tp160.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-03-03

Grieving 9/11/01
a sorrow gathered from years before
Anguished for victims
within and off our shore.
Grieving
not selecting which side to bless All life cherished,
the poor, the oppressed.
Grieving
""we the people"" not just the few,
sharing earth, democracy renewed.
Tis time to reflect,
EnvisionÖthe past, present.
Reflecting upon Hate unrepentant.
Grieving
Bloody wars
Smart bombing
civilians
oozing mix of blood and mortar.
Questioning
Greedy assaults ""defensive"" armor.
Grieving
Before and after
9/11's torment.
Demanding to know what went wrong
Unanswered questions the list getting long
We demand an independent checkup
The right to know we'll give no let up.
Grieving
The ""Patriot"" Act
Threatening the right to know
Answers to questions
We'll not forgo.
We ""pledge"" the Bill of Rights
To sovereignty
To revolutionary-birth rights
Not hounded by the watchman
Nor bushed by the ranchman.
History consoles
uplift from greed's sinkhole
Be engaged
Read of rights denied, the outrage.
Adopt Paine's Common Sense,
His Rights of Man,
Bind with Jefferson's Independence.
Rights of selfhood Unalienable
Of Peace and Justice Indivisible.
Grieving 9/11
Mother Jones would advise
Grieve not! Organize!
Revising policy domestic and foreign
Hear Frederick Douglass chastise
No Demand Without a Struggle, Organize!
And how to begin?
Heed well his outcry:
""Where justice is denied,
where poverty is enforced,
where ignorance prevails,
and where any one class
is made to feel
that society is in
an organized conspiracy
to oppress, rob, and degrade them,
neither persons nor property will be safe.""
Organize!