PREPARING FOR REVOLUTION
To be human
is to be
naked
before and after
the law
To be protected
if ever
if at all
only by
the decency
of others
And when unprotected
abused neglected
there are
dark clouds
in the sky
of the citizen
He who seems proud
only when
saluting
flags
paying bills on time
this code of his:
‘virtuous obedience’
My code
is learned
(if ever learned)
only by moonlight:
‘disobedience is love’
Nurtures
the heart
in hard times
even amid strangers
even on crowded streets
Silence
helps also
until the time
finally comes
and when it does—
it will
Then
to do to undo
to act
ready to kiss one another
ready to die
Global Justice in the 21st Century 
Thankyou
For the fresh air
And solidarity
From afar
Brother with arms
To embrace, to create
A new world founded upon
Love
Thanks for this convivial poetic response..part of the Tahrir re-orchestration
of the music of the spheres..
Thank you, Richard, for your inspiring poetry.
Thank you for this stirring poem. It really grabbed me. It brings to mind my family’s experiences in World War II Germany and ties those to other experiences past, present and future with unfortunate firmness. Will we ever learn?
We are all waiting to live that better part of ourselves, waiting for the paradigm shift, wanting to jump into the unknown………that time can be anytime, that time is now. Thank you for this lovely poem.
Thanks, Ann, and yes, liberating ‘our better angels’ as Lincoln expressed it long ago. I have just been at the Occupy site in London where I experienced this potentiality in the energy and living
engagement of the young people gathered before St. Paul’s Cathedral. Richard
Dear Richard,
right to the point of our times is your poem !
Hope is the key
which reminds me on broken doors and millions of orphans created by a false banner
Thank you
monalisa
Hi Richard — I recently put together script for a prisoner here in Canada, victim of Islamophobia here and in France, in a case with many parallels to the Dreyfus case (secret evidence, fraudulent handwriting analysis). I included several excerpts from other prisoners whose words resonate with yours. Here’s a poem by Leonard Peltier:
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
Just as doing nothing is an act.
We are your own conscience calling to you
We are you yourself
Crying unheard within you.
Let my unheard voice be heard.
Let me speak my heart and the words be heard
Whispering on the wind to millions,
To all who care,
To all with ears to hear
And hearts to beat as one
With mine.
Put your ear to the earth,
And hear my heart beating there.
Put your ear to the wind
And hear me speaking there.
P.S. I met you in Toronto several years ago when you were speaking about Gaza.
Dear Professor Richard Falk,
may I keep your wonderful poetry for your legacy for myself?
I thank you for this gift.
stirs belief…..and hope and love…..thank you ….