A Poem To Stop Immigrants’ Dying in the Desert

llevamos el agua abajo

 

we move―dousing hatred’s fire of those who have never been hungry

 

those who have never been thirsty

 

those who hold the gold, making racist rules

 

sponsoring vigilantes breaking hearts and breaking lives,

 

descendants of immigrants crucifying immigrants

 

deputies of injustice slaughtering 5,000 innocents

 

pale writers of so many unnecessary epitaphs

 

 

 

but we are writers too we are writers too

 

somos escritores tambien somos somos escritores

 

and there are more of us than there are of them

 

so we all carry the water down

 

entonces llevamos todas el agua abajo

 

until there are no more footprints in the sand

 

all of us carry the water down

 

through the prickly cactus in the suffocating heat

 

we all carry the water down

 

to raise the hopes of desperate desert walkers

 

we all carry the water down

 

all of us carry the water down

 

singing songs of justice singing songs of peace

 

singing Indian songs of freedom until one glorious day

 

there are no more desert deaths

 

see that beautiful day when

 

there are no more no more

 

no more footprints in the sand

 

no mas huellas en la arena

 

 

 

jim moreno summer 2010