We are revolution, a tide so red,
this cresting wave looks like dawn breaking
it curls in our mouths like
tongues of flame
They will tell you, you don’t have wings
They will say your halos are broken
But there is something divine here
We are warriors. Survivors of a hostile universe, children tossed from the nest like birds
Humankind is revolution wrapped in flesh, laced with bone,
Ever changing, ever forward, and when the momentum of history stands at our back like wind, who can stand against us?
We are the arrow of history,
We are the only direction,
We hold up the sky, and oil the machine
We pull civilization on our backs,
atlas and titan, juggernaut, and giant
we have been taught to bow our heads so they don’t scrape stars from the sky
to walk softly so that we don’t shatter cities
to go hungry so that the prophets who sing us to sleep can eat until they burst.
But when you are silent you can hear it beating in your chest
when you stand still, you can feel the streets rumble from the footsteps of millions
the giant sleeping underneath our cities has started to wake
and when we move, traffic halts
when we move skyscrapers tremble
when we move nations fall
when we move, chains are broken
we are as inevitable as the tide, as unstoppable as sunrise
and today, a thousand eyes snap open
we are awake, we do not hide
we demand more for ourselves,
and more for our children than this dying world.
Than these toxic skies, and polluted water,
Than slavery
Every man and woman is a star, and within each person are the seeds of liberation
what fool strikes a giant, unless they know, the giant will never strike in return?
long ago we forgot something important, but we are starting to remember
when you are tired, do not sleep
when you are troubled, be still
when you feel hopeless, sing your own songs
no one can take what you do not give
so never give up hope
never give your dignity,
and above all, never, ever, surrender
See the artist present this poem live by visiting: http://tinyurl.com/3sylpzh