The Bitter Words of the Earth

NIKOS DELIGIANNIS

 

 

I HAVE… YOU DON’T HAVE…

In the exile of the world

I have a name
I have a homeland
A residence
To collect my dreams

I have a playground
For my children to play
A park to walk or run in
A square to loudly proclaim
My rights

I have a sidewalk
To walk my dog
And greet passersby
A garden to tend
My roses and trees
A slope to climb
And reach the summit of freedom

I have a beach to draw
The shape of a heart
And on it to enchant
Love
A sea
To be struck by its waves
And to collect its shells

I have hope
And desires at dawn
And at dusk
Some to stand by me
And many others
To hear my words
To cheer me or to comment

My paths begin
And end on bright streets

But how many have all this
Or how many do not have all this?

How many left behind
Their homes in the fire
Their dreams desolate
And abandoned
In their departure?

How many saw the searing tongue
Of the sea dissolve their children
And they, without redemption,
Embrace the dragon of humiliation?

All that they sowed bleeds them
All that they desired tramples them…

How many bear on their backs
The spark of fear
The sharp root of pain
That withers the tree of their life?

Pursued and wandering
With eternal sorrow,
They do not have what I have!