Tree

13 November 2016

Are you, are you
Coming up with me
They say they will be
They say up, will we be
Brave enough, brave to follow
To leave, to flee, to go
If we split, to leave me
To mine and only
Fate.

When the proponents of tyranny
come to us and ask forgiveness:
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know it would get so bad.”
We will tell them: “Too late.
Too little. The toll has already rung.”

We will not forgive.
We will not forget.
We will weep for the fallen.
We will endure.

What am I supposed to say
to young people coming to me
wanting to leave this sad world
because at least now
it would be on their terms?

They are at our doors.
They are our neighbours.
They are our family.
They are taking us.
They are not returning us.
They are denying us.
They are ignoring us.

I don’t know which hurts more:
their blows, their betrayal,
their torture, their murder,

or their indifference.

Are we out of sight?
Are we out of night?

Our world has already tumbled
Our life, for years now, has bled

Burn our secrets
Burn our hearts
Burn our love

Seal your lips forever, little one
Or forget you ever were different.
Rejoin your friends, embrace their joy,
bury your truth deep inside yourself.
Learn to smile again,
learn to smile the scars away,
forget yourself little one,
at least you’ll live another day.

It’s the end of the line
It’s the end of our time
It’s the very last step.

Too tired, too broken
we have stopped running.

Our final wish:
to go soaring into the skies
to fade away into the night

Our blood running free
A red sunset
A tide coming out
My soul drying out.

(…)

You told us to run
You told us to be free
You kept our secrets
You were broken for us
Still you did not speak

We thank you
We thank you
We thank you all

We will remember you
We’ve built monuments
We’re telling stories

At long last, with tyranny defeated
We stand here honouring you
Who made it all possible
But didn’t get to see the end

We weep for the fallen
We run into the sky
We smile true to our soul
We remember who we are
We restore our hearts
We return to ourselves
We heal the scars
We dream at night
We weep for the fallen

The toll has rung one final time.