Revolutionary Poetry: "Dawn"

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