I Am (Kneeling)
i am, become...
i am forgiveness,
wanted, prayed for, needed,
in heart and action...
i am the blood of those
you killed crying out,
in the name of God and humanity!
i am the action done with foreknowledge,
the action done without intent.
and even worse the inaction,
that turns the head and closes the eyes.
i am the earth gasping with death,
crying out to her children.
i am your children, and
your children's children...
starving at your feet!
i am the people of color
you killed without remorse...
and the poor of all colors you flush.
i am the young boys and girls
you sell into slavery,
on every darkened corner.
i am the young men you trained
and sent to die...
to feed your war machine!
i am the working class bartered away
in the game of oil and dominion...
the memory of your parents and grandparents,
all they fought and stood for
sold like trinkets on the block.
the words of freedom, of Thomas Jefferson,
whose grave you now defile...
i am the weeping that has no tears,
that tears you inside out.
i am the hurt that covers you
with shadows and agony,
that makes you sick to your soul.
i am numb with silence,
struck blind, struck down...
i am America kneeling,
i am, become...
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
From Vietnam To America
In Houston, men killed their own children,
In Saigon, boys killed and robbed
Got life in prisons.
Right here, wives left their husbands...
And mourned their children's deaths,
Over there, girls sold their bodies
Every nights on streets.
From Vietnam,
Do my people have to pay that much,
For the stupid Communists and "United,"
To America,
Do my people have to pay that much,
From the sake of freedom and dollars,
From Vietnam to America,
Do my people have to go that far?
poem by Thanh Nguyen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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There Are No Children Here
The untrained eye
Walks down the street
And sees children
But they're not children
There are no children here
Adults look back
With hungry eyes
And someone thinks
''They're just children
With a mother and a father
Never any fear''
And they kid themselves
As there are no mothers
No fathers
Because there are no children here
Terror doesn't care
As they cry over there
It lets someone stare
Through the sight of a gun
Seeing everyone
And just for fun
Shoot them
People rush around crying
''But they were just children!
They were just children! ''
A man with a gun
Turns and runs
But as he does they hear
''They aren't children''
And
''They weren't children''
And
''You need to know:
There are no children here''
No one makes a sound
Listening to the truth he's found
And they know:
It's our fault
We didn't save them
We could have saved them
If we cared
There would be children here
poem by Violet Llewellyn
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The children in black
The children in black
Where did their childhoods go
Trailing water behind
How did they become this cynical
They write words of hate
Tears of joy is no longer a term for them
How can they be so small
But hate so much
The children in black
The children in black
What happened to happiness
Are they that controlled
That everything can effect them
Don't they have the right to laugh
Why are their eyes this guarded
Does everything have to be that formal
What happened to innocence
Did it go away with the faith
The children in black
The children in black
I can see the bitterness
Can't you see the ugly truth
Bitter minds already got their minds trained
So why are children so dark
Is there that much pain
The children in black
The children in black
What happened to be open minded
Did it close like a door
Only opening for a few
Is this society that negative
That they can't see the light
What happened to love
Loving parents and friends
It must have went away
The children in black
The children in black
Their hate scares me
Their eyes make me grimace
With thier hate they can stop the world
But how is that possible when they are so young
Are their minds that easy to twist
The children in black
The children in black
I hope they will soon see the light
I don't know if it's normal to be afraid
But that's what I feel
Why do most people find it easier to be sad
Do they realize it's not
The children aren't children anymore
They're miny adults trying to impress
Why don't people realize this
Are they that oblivious
Maybe if people opened their eyes we could do something
But until then...
The children in black
poem by Lillie Ellis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Toys
Sindys spending too much money on clothes
Ken is going back to gay bob
The teddy bears swear the neighbourhoods gone
Since the moving in of golliwog
Rag doll gets beaten up by the action man
The one with the real life hair
He walks and he talks in a commanding voice
But sexually hes not all there
Oh dear what can the matter be, my children sweet children
What gives down in the nursery, my children sweet children
Oh dear what if the cradle falls, my children sweet children
Toys are only human after all, who killed em we killed em
If toys are quarreling amongst themselves
What hope is there now for the world?
The smell of smoke hanging thick over funland
As the older toys are pushed down a ramp
The microchip master race are melting them down
In a dolly concentration camp
The worlds gone mad but in miniature
The kids can only do what they feel
See them copy what their parents have done
til theyre old enough to do it for real
Burn!
song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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11 O'clock Tick Tock
It's cold outside
It gets so hot in here
And the boys and girls collide
To the music in my ear
Hear the children crying
And they know it's time to go
I hear the children crying
Take me home
A painted face
And I know we haven't long
We thought that we had the answers
It was the questions we had wrong
Hear the children crying
And I know it's time to go
I hear the children crying
Take me home
Sad song
song performed by by U2
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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April 16,2007 (A College Massacre)
I saw the people crying
Their eyes red from tears
I could also hear
In their voices their fears
They're trying to understand
Something that cannot be explained
They're trying hard to cope with
The heartache and the pain
They want to understand
Why people do what they do
They want to understand
How such hate in some can brew
How could anyone
Do what he's done
They wonder how so much hate
Can live inside anyone
Yesterday these people
Were strangers to each other
Some will now become very close
Like that of a sister or brother
Yesterday these people
Didn't know the others existed
Yesterday these people
Had children who were gifted
But today they stand together
Sharing hurt and tears
Knowing that their children
Will never hear graduation cheers
Yes, today they are assembled
In a church to say goodbye
Hoping that no other parents
Have to see their children die
poem by Ray Hansell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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On With The Action
Something going on at the corner of the block
Its the kids down there
They were startin to rock
High black fever runnin everyplace
When the greek kid pulled a knife
And pushed it in his face
Some girl makes it with a lover in the door...
As the ambulance pulls away,
She cries out more
* and its all night long, all night long
On with the action
You need the fastest legs alive
On with the action
If you cant run you aint survive
On with the action
Mamas boy and teachers pet...
On with the action
Its down our street, is it in yours yet
All the kids stand laughin
They never had such fun
Then someone cuts a blind man who just cant make a run
And the queen whos been standin behind the toilet door
His parents dont like boyfriends, call him a whore
But the ministers starin
With his Bible in his hand
Was this gods children, he didnt understand
* repeat
* repeat
song performed by by Ufo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hungry Children
Everyday children around the world are starving,
Children has to go without food,
When their parents don't have the money to feed them,
All over the world, there are times,
When all children have went to bed without anything to eat.
Children die every single day,
Because they don't have,
Enough money to feed themselves.
Food should be free to low-income families,
So that the people who can't afford to feed their children can feed them,
Without having to worry that their children or themselves will die,
If food is free to these people,
We will have children for our next gernation.
poem by Bethany Williams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Worth A Shot
What kind of lottery have we won?
When we are here having fun
War-torn countries at the end of a gun
Where the dying has just begun
People dying
Children crying
Widows weeping
Justice sleeping
Contemplate this, it would be a start
With wisdom and effort we may impart
For someone’s existence, a piece of our heart
Making a difference before we depart
People dying
Children crying
Widows weeping
Justice sleeping
Corporate America are you hearing this?
Can anyone see how they are so remiss?
Reaping millions where ignorance is bliss
Their dollars filling their own void, an abyss
People dying
Children crying
Widows weeping
Justice sleeping
It’s what we do with what we’ve got
It’s who we help with who knows what
It’s sharing with those who have not
Don’t you think it’s worth a shot?
poem by Rose Falcone
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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O My Soul...
where have you gone,
o my soul...
where have you gone?
are you lost in the tears
of a thousand faces
blackened by hunger?
in the cries of the dying?
of the homeless?
in the defiant feet
of those standing in line?
the unemployment line?
the soup line?
the line just outside
the prison walls?
in the lover left desperate,
who takes his own life?
in the students beaten,
who stood up for freedom?
in the young man hated,
for the color of his skin?
in the young woman sold
on the lonesome street corner?
in the windowless offices
where lives and deaths are decided?
in the hole behind the gun,
eyes hard as steel?
in the bare apartment,
where the children are cold and hungry?
on the corner, 'neath the bridge,
in the back of the car?
where have you gone,
o my soul...
where have you gone?
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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State Of The Union (In Closing)
we, the working people
of America, demand our dignity!
we demand equality, and fairness!
we are all immigrants here!
yet no human being is illegal.
we demand the right to work,
and to educate our children.
we demand shelter, and healthcare!
we are a hard working, hard fighting
people... we demand a
hard working, hard fighting President!
we know that you are limited
by the hand of the controlling elite,
at the mercy of the corporate machine.
dont be just a figurehead.
your choice!
freedom is a work in progress.
the real revolution is in
the human heart, in the mind.
we are ready for change,
and willing to act.
be ready, and willing!
there are no small people,
we are all people.
we will not be owned!
we cannot go back to the
bigoted, ignorant ways of the past.
you are our best option,
be the man!
most of all, we demand the action
that follows words well spoken.
be the action!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Children In America!
one out of three
children in America,
living in poverty?
what happened
to the land of promise?
children hungry,
children homeless,
children that wont
get a good education!
children, broken families,
children without future.
children without love....
turn to hate!
build your cities,
build your banks,
build your kingdoms
drunk on oil and blood!
your children, dying....
who digs their graves?
who closes their eyes?
who prays for their souls?
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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You Call This America!
morning splintered,
justice stinks like the
dried blood on the concrete walls
of an abandoned building.
you call this America!
lives wrapped in color,
in calloused hands.
standing in line
for a loaf of bread.
a bullet, a token,
a fresh covered grave,
you call this America!
you wear your god in sunday best,
throw words and prayers
into a bottomless well.
afraid of your shadows,
you arm yourselves,
you call this America!
the hands of take flex
and shout...
while dirt faced children
stand with mouths agape.
mothers die, and brothers are killed.
sisters sold on the block
beneath colored lights...
you call this America!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Poem: 'Playtime Slayer
- 6. May.2006 -
Unsuspecting children play, nothing seems amiss
They are jumping, they are running, they’re just ‘being kids’
Unsuspecting children play, unnoticing this little girl
She is crying, she is dying, carrying the weight of the world
Unsuspecting children play, laughing to themselves
They are so unknowing of this little girls living hell
Unsuspecting children play, having so much fun
This girl is used to being bullied, but she’s not the only one
Unsuspecting children play, unknowing of this pain
They don’t even see this girl… they don’t let her join their game
Unsuspecting children play, as a young girls life falls apart
They don’t even suspect; this little girl ‘self-harms’
poem by Rachel Ann Clark
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Children Say
I keep to myself
What I might share with others
But they dont seem to understand
I open my mouth
To rediscover
That I dont have the words at my command
Holding out
For a world so much better
But Im a stranger in a strangers land
All my friends have sold out
Couldnt handle the pressure
Counting their blessings trying to salvage what they can
Children say - children say
We open our minds as one
But one more day - slips away
Why dont the dreams of the young never come to be
When I overhear
My parents conversations
Well Im struck by the things they say
It seems they traded the years
For mere complications
Who ever thought it could end this way
They close the door
But they cant lock it
cause something of their childhood remains
And theyve felt it before
When the man in their pocket
Counted the cost of their material gains
Children say - come what may
Be strong for the friends youve known
But one fine day - (not) far away
Will we remember the love we used to own
Children say - children say
We open our minds as one
As one more day slips away
Why dont the dreams of the young never come to be
Well you knew what I was saying
But did you know what it meant
When you saw that look in my eye
Did you know it was heaven sent
Was it all a waking dream
All that time we must have spent
Well I guess it must have been
Somehow that feeling came and went
Children say - come what may
Be strong for the friends youve known
But one fine day - (not) far away
Will we remember the love we used to own
Children say - children say
We open our minds as one
As one more day - slips away
Why dont the dreams of the young never come to be
Children say - children say
We thought it would never go
As one more day - slips away
Who ever thought we could be so lonely
song performed by by Level 42
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On The Sacredness Of Life
i watched and listened as the young
woman confronted the older woman
for her pro-life stance...
'i understand that you're pro-life,
and while i admire you for the intent
of your stance, i have a few questions...'
'go ahead, it's pretty cut and dried.
life is sacred from inception.'
'what life, or better, which lives? '
'all life! '
' well, let me ask you this...
did you vote for the man who sent
your son off to war?
a war in which he dropped the bombs
that killed hundreds of people,
many of who were women and children....
a war in which later his plane was shot down,
and he was killed?
did you vote for the man who voted to
cut off unemployment benefits,
to cut off medical care to the sick,
and the elderly?
do you change the channel any time
a commercial comes on showing starving
children in Africa?
are you in favor of capital punishment?
well, where do you draw the line? '
no answer!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Stop The Killing!
he killed Trayvon
with a bullet to the chest.
stone cold murder!
much as we've killed...
Vietnamese children,
South American children,
the children of Iraq,
and Afghanistan...
Japanese children,
Native American children,
and probably next
the children of Iran!
as Dylan mocks:
'with god on our side'...
whose god?
what type of morality
justifies killing children?
we might just as well
be killing our own children!
and in a sense we are!
Trayvon demands justice...
so do the ghosts of all the children...
their faces ingrained in the curse
on our souls, on our land!
stop the killing!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Haunting Dream
It was a dream
This dream was like none other
Felt so real
To this day those children scream in pain
I feel myself going insane
All those children screaming, dieing
Dropped to my knees nearly crying
All so young, they deserved to live
If only
If only I had more to give
I wanted to help, I tried, I really tried
The more I helped, even more had died
Torture
I've never seen torture devices like these before so dark, so brutal
The blood
All the young children drained of blood
I awaken
Ears are bleeding, eyes can't tell whats real and whats fake
This truelly was
The haunting dream.
poem by Kevin Fisher
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Forever Young
We don't change inside,
we only learn to subdue emotions.
Fundamentally - we stay the same.
On the outside we wrinkle,
our skin pales and crepes,
our eyes sink in _
but we don't change.
We still think like children,
feel like children
take falls like children,
cry and hurt and act like children,
hide like children,
for despite being tall
and knowing more
we are and always will be
_ forever young.
poem by Ruth Walters
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Songs To Aging Children Come
Through the windless wells of wonder
By the throbbing light machine
In a tea leaf trance or under
Orders from the king and queen
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
People hurry by so quickly
Dont they hear the melodies
In the chiming and the clicking
And the laughing harmonies
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
Some come dark and strange like dying
Crows and ravens whistling
Lines of weeping, strings of crying
So much said in listening
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
Does the moon play only silver
When it strums the galaxy
Dying roses will they will their
Perfumed rhapsodies to me
Songs to aging children came
This is one
song performed by by Joni Mitchell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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