If You Can Love A Poem They Have Not Won, And Never Will
Ask Stalin
THE DAWN BREAKERS
(LES MATINAUX)
LONG LIVE…
This country is but a wish of the spirit, a counter-sepulcher.
In my country, tender proofs of spring and badly dressed birds are preferred to far-off goals.
Truth waits for dawn beside a candle. Window glass is neglected. To the watchful, what does it matter?
In my country, we don’t question a man deeply moved.
There is no malignant shadow on the capsized boat.
A cool hello is unknown in my country.
We borrow only what can be returned increased.
There are leaves, many leaves, on the trees of my country. The branches are free to bear no fruits.
We don’t believe in the good faith of the victor.
In my country, we say thank you.
—René Char
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Fuck Emily Oster,
And fuck amnesty too.
Hey, they haven’t won, I really love that poem.
"All Some Kind Of Dream"
I saw my brother in a stranger's face
I saw my sister in a smile
My mother's laughter in a far off place
My father's footsteps in each mile
I thought I knew who my neighbour was
We didn't need to be redeemed
Oh, what could I have been thinking of?
Was it all some kind of dream?
I saw my country in the hungry eyes
Of a million refugees
Between the rocks and the rising tide
As they were tossed across the sea
There was a time when we were them
Just as now they all are we
Was there an hour when we took them in?
Or was it all some kind of dream?
I saw the children in the holding pens
I saw the families ripped apart
And though I try I cannot begin
To know what it did inside their hearts
There was a time when we held them close
And weren't so cruel, low, and mean
And we did good unto the least of those
Or was it all some kind of dream?
I saw justice with a tattered hem
I saw compassion on the run
But I saw dignity in spite of them
I prayed its day would finally come
There was a time when we chose our sides
And we refused to live between
We rose to fight for what we knew was right
Or was it all some kind of dream?
Last night I lay in my true love's bed
And she lay there close beside
And we lay thinking 'bout what lay ahead
And wondering if the sun would rise
For it seems that these are darker days
Than any others that we've seen
Oh, how we wished that we weren't wide awake
And this was all some kind of dream
Josh Ritter