Category: Americas, World Affairs Channel: Poetry Views: 1206
1206
I Will Fight Your Enemies
America, I will fight your enemies
I will fight your wars without end
Against terrorists, anarchists, arsonists
Against rebels, radicals, revolutionaries
Against protesters, picketers, marchers
Against Levelers, Diggers, Quakers
Against spooks, spirits, specters
Against the sick who won't die
Against the poor who dare cry
Against Ur, Nineveh and Babylon
Against the daughters and sons of Man
America, I will fight your enemies
I who have seen their faces
Red, black, brown and yellow
I know where they hide, crouching
In the dark corridors of history
I know what winds they ride
Past the gates of purgatory
I know that they rise implacably
From the daily dance of dialectics
America, I have seen your enemies
I have seen them riding the Nez Perce trail
I have seen them rising from Washita
I have seen their ghosts at Wounded Knee
America, I have tracked your enemies
I have followed their twisted trail
Through the Gaza of discontent
And the West Bank of despair
America, I will defeat your enemies
I know where their cohorts hide
Still waging their wars against tyrants
In the Andes, Chiapas, Omaha
America, I will lead you to your enemies
I will lead you to their sacred places
America, when I kiss your enemies
You will know them by their anointed faces
M. Shahid Alam teaches economics at Northeastern University in Boston.
Older Comments:
OBSERVING FROM A DISTANCE FROM USA said:
There are no tomorrows
There are only yesterdays
There is no history
There is only biography
There is no future
There is only past
There is no God
There is only YOU and I
There are only yesterdays
There is no history
There is only biography
There is no future
There is only past
There is no God
There is only YOU and I
2002-10-16
DAVID MCCLUNG FROM USA said:
Israel is a state established through the ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians. Yes, everyone deserves to live a life of dignity, which is why Israel must be dismantled. Its existence depends on the murder of Palestinians, to steal their land.
2002-10-16
TAPIWA FROM USA said:
That was great poem that brings to light the true america. Hopefully disbelievers will begin to wake up and realize that the real threat to humankind are right here at home, under there very noses.......
2002-10-16
ENGR. ISMAIL AHMED FROM NIGERIA said:
America wants to start something she cannot end. George Bush better think along side the whole world leaders and forget going to war with Iraq. If he needs some oil he dialogue with Mr. Saddam Hussein.
2002-10-15
ALISON CAPONETTO FROM USA said:
Yes, America has committed atrocities too.
You must remember that it is a country made
up of many belief systems, races and ethnic
groups, who for the most part live in harmony
with each other now.No one who is sane
wants war. No one should commit murder in
the name of G-d. That is the ultimate
blasphemy. Writing a poem saying
essentially that murder is justified because
someone else has already done it is stupid!
G-d wants us to love. Hasn't he proven that by
giving us three religions which, at the base
are very much the same. I am a Jew. I
support a state of Israel where everyone is
free to live, love, practice the religion of their
choice and be at peace. Don't we all deserve
that?
You must remember that it is a country made
up of many belief systems, races and ethnic
groups, who for the most part live in harmony
with each other now.No one who is sane
wants war. No one should commit murder in
the name of G-d. That is the ultimate
blasphemy. Writing a poem saying
essentially that murder is justified because
someone else has already done it is stupid!
G-d wants us to love. Hasn't he proven that by
giving us three religions which, at the base
are very much the same. I am a Jew. I
support a state of Israel where everyone is
free to live, love, practice the religion of their
choice and be at peace. Don't we all deserve
that?
2002-10-15
IMRAN FROM UK said:
This poem is good because it accepts that America is guilty of atrocities in its own right. The common American propaganda is that Zionists are puppetmasters controlling a wonderful America. This is untrue. America is guilty of many atrocities, and it should confront its past, instead of hiding behind jingoistic propaganda.
2002-10-15
