In Our Time
For Fidel

And if I fall

You know you courageous when the New
York Times Act like you evil.

And if I fall
What is life?

If Em en Em is brilliant
Then call me one
Dumb motherfucker

And if I fall
What is life?
I gave it up for lost
When fearlessly I tossed
Off the yoke of the slave

Did you sell your gold
For weapons
In the name of self defense?

And if I fall
What is life?
I already
Gave it up for lost
When
Fearlessly
I tossed
off the yoke
Of the slave

Did you trade in those
Chains you wore round your neck
For a pistol
Responding to the tank’s rifle
Immune to the beauty of your children?

Who were you then?
A woman, I remember. A mother.
How could I forget?
And resistance became a mural,
a monumental thing
A folksong with wings
We promised to pass it on to reach ears
Years later in Union square park
From a land of olive men and women
From men and women of an olive land

And if I fall
What is life?

Did you leave your homeland to protect it?
Did you write a poem on the prison wall,
Did you whisper something in your cell
To the earlobe of your wife
To her soft neck unforgotten
skin like milk and
cotton
Who once laid beside you and shares your
Dreams, even now,
Thinks of you staring at
The seat that holds only your absence
The promise of your absence
wondering how anyone makes sense anymore.

And if I fall
What is life?

When I was little they told me a man
Named God could read my mind.
Could guess all the numbers in my head
Between 1 and 10
and then
my weight.
Could predict my sins
My fate

And if I fall
What is life?

This sort of thinking has led to
Preemptive strikes.
Against
Children who may grow up to be Arabic
It’s only the middle east
When you consider yourself the center of the world
The center of the world
Center, world
Center, world

And if I fall
What is life

War
Is getting
Really
bad news every day.

And if I fall
What is life?

And should the ashes of
My flesh come circling
Down
In the unseen currents
From a burning sky
If that sky was
Evil
And I could burn it

And if I fall
What is life
I already
Gave it up for lost

And should the ashes of my
Flesh come circling
Down
Around me
Napalm
Sunday ashes
Smeared above my brow
You can’t stop us
You can’t stop us now
Your lies have burned
Scars in our chest
Above our hearts
Wounds we wont forget
Can you feel the movement
Of our arms
Fists pumping through the air
We know Cuba
We know how to get there
We know Cuba
We know how to get there
We are flying down south
flying so fast
And

And if I fall
What is life
I gave it up for lost
When fearlessly
I Tossed
off the yoke of the slave

And if you can
Cause death
I forgot to fear you
And if you can
Spread lies
I don’t think
To hear you
the ash that burns
Is not my flesh
My spirit consumes
What’s left of paper tigers
Exploding
Eroding into empty space
And coming down
Like snowfall
We are standing tall
Because we know no
Fear from your lies
We know the emptiness
Behind your eyes
Running
Our legs pumping
The earth moving below our feet
Turning turning
A complete revolution
Around the sun
The moon and the stars
And everything worth fighting for
The light
In the distance
Growing brighter
A great flame
And our minds
We are becoming organized
The drums beating
It’s becoming clearer
The nearer
We run
Suffering is behind
Us the ache of hunger
Falling to the side

And if I fall
What is life
I gave it up for lost
When I fearlessly
Tossed off the yoke of the slave

Did you become the soul
Of the baby
Bombed back into an idea
Did you become the water to
Quench parched lips
That used to sing
Did you look outside
And see the world
Beyond an army of one
It takes courage to love
It takes courage to love
Any one can pick up a gun
It takes courage to love
Did you become a soul
Some water
Some vision
Did you
did you
did you
Can you
will you
will you?

Tracey Luszcz
Copyright 2003