Masterworks Series: Zapatistas

Hope and Death

How strong the pull

And how vibrant the song

That calls us, men and women alike,

To come forth

From our fields of labor.

We must claim our rights

As people from the earth

To share in earth’s bounty.

We celebrate the power

Proven in our bodies

That gardens

Fountains

Towns and villages

All come from the work of our own hands.

How long must our lives be drained?

How long will we weary ourselves

For some distant landlord?

Today we rise

To lay claim to ourselves.

Some lives are taken

In the struggle for freedom –

Better so than to have our lives slowly extinguished

Without hope of

Dancing in our own square

Reaping from our own field

Drinking from our own cup

And resting in our own bed.

They can take our lives to fill their coffers

Or we can show them that

Our lives are worth more than that.

We give our lives

For our freedom

So they will not take our lives

For their own small vanity.

                                                    ~ CK

__________________________

Image: "Zapatistas,"from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City
Artist: José Clemente Orozco (Mexican, 1883–1949)
Date:1931

Medium:Oil on canvas

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