One man standing in front of tanks
In Tiananmen Square said more
About a need for change
Than a thousand bombs.

Each vote cast in a new nation’s election
Will bang louder
Than any round of ammunition.

In the words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King:
“In the process of gaining our rightful place
we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom
by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle
on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
We must not allow our creative protest
to degenerate into physical violence.
Again and again we must rise
to the majestic heights of meeting
physical force with soul force.”

We are in the season to soon
Begin the leavings
But there is great works
Yet to be done.

When the leavings proclaim
A new round of freedom
When the leavings ring
In bells of peace.

And the winners need not be measured
By opinion of which nation won
And which nation lost;
But rather in the vast numbers of persons
Who can live in places of hope
And not merely survive
In captivity or fear or despair.

Oh yes, let this dream
Be more than a wistful haze
Let it be something of wonder
Within the world’s gaze
That what is right
Will have its own might…

Poetpj 1-17-2006 1434