Will we have a day, a moment to point to
when the end finally arrived?
a Wednesday afternoon in the Senate
a Thursday night in Parliament
a Tuesday night in November
or was it September
or 1984
or before
Rome didn’t fall in a day.
if it hadn’t been the Visigoths
it would have ended some other way
the slow-moving coup already in motion
if it hadn’t been the orange menace
it would have been some other notion
we who have marched
boarded buses for DC before dawn
carried our handmade signs
stood against threats
tear gas and arrests
we have occupied
sat in
stood shoulder to shoulder in the rain
held vigil
acted up
knitted hats
sung songs of peace and solidarity and overcoming
but it turns out we are overcome
with bills to pay, masters to serve
perhaps we get what we deserve
the slow death of dreams deferred
justice denied
for so many we’ve lost count
or lost hope
will we have a day, a moment to point to
when the resistance took shape at last?
when the youth picked up the baton
as a stake and plunged it into the machine’s corrupt heart
Black Lives, yellow vests
the climate march
Hong Kong protests
some other movement yet to start
the world won’t be healed in a day
or a lifetime
but if humanity is here to stay
things will have to change
and the moment
is now
