For Those In Solidarity With The People Of Nicaragua And Those Who Will Someday Be Forced To Listen

for those in solidarity with the people of Nicaragua and those who will someday be forced to listen

tie our hands

behind out backs,

stain them with the blood you shed

in our name

and with our money.

drown our voices

with your garbled words,

twisted truths that float

empty and bloated

from the City on the Hill

conjure up a phantom legion

from your bag of dirty tricks,

give them death machines,

mighty black wings

and watch as they feast upon

your blood money.

pimp the boy-soldiers

who joined for a meal,

put guns in hands 

that cannot hold a pencil.

teach them to kill,

to torture their own.

turn your back on the world,

shun the lessons of your own history,

dismiss the advisors

who say this war cannot be won.

tell us how women must be raped,

children slaughtered 

peasants terrorized

to protect our borders,

our chaste democracy

and the God almighty dollar.

watch as we learn from those whose

crosses we bear -

lessons of strength and faith,

a tenacity whose roots surge deeper

than any of your bombs can penetrate,

listen as we find our voices,

link our arms, grow in number.

for every one arrested

there will be another to take their place,

and another and another

until you cannot distinguish

between the war in your backyard

and the war in your own home.

there is power that cannot be bought

voices that cannot be silenced

and a strength that lies beyond you.

we too, are the makers of history.

by Cinder Hypki