This is not your land. The hills
Rock under flowing water, fern hanging
Over the pool where the fish rises
Blue sky filtered through branches.
This is not your land
The sacred hill where the gods of air and water live
The flight of the bird on the wing,
Shimmer of the sun on the water
They do not belong to you.
They never did.
Your machines of steel and anger
Would rip the heart out of the earth,
Rip the old gods from their hills and forests.
Your greed fuels your machines
Your uniformed minions, with guns in their hands
Your uniformed minions who after all are only men
As we are men, and women
Earth’s Children, we.
Your greed would make an end to everything we have
Everything we live for
But this is not your land
And we will not pay the price for your greed
And we will not go away.
No.
We will not go easily, no, we will not go easily.
We will not go easily, into the dreadful night.
This is not your land, no this is not your land
Our ancestors have lived here
The old gods have lived here
Since before the days when the hills were young.
Yet you want what is not yours
You try to take what is not yours
And death is all you offer us
And death is something we understand.
No, we will not go easily
Though you do what you will
Offer us your platitudes, feed us with
Words.
Your words
Your words are like your promises
Empty.
Empty like the eyes of the skull on the dry rock
Empty as the scars on the earth
Empty like the bellies of our children
When your machines have moved on.
But when we pick up the gun
The gun is not empty.
Our forests, our villages
Our land, our gods
Our world, not empty.
Call us what you will
Red terrorist, Maoist, Anti-national
Call us what you will, but
Our world is not empty.
We will pay with our blood
Yes we will pay with our blood
We will water the land with our blood
And it will be our land.
Our words, our promises
Are not empty.
Rock under flowing water, fern hanging
Over the pool where the fish rises
Blue sky filtered through branches.
This is not your land
The sacred hill where the gods of air and water live
The flight of the bird on the wing,
Shimmer of the sun on the water
They do not belong to you.
They never did.
Your machines of steel and anger
Would rip the heart out of the earth,
Rip the old gods from their hills and forests.
Your greed fuels your machines
Your uniformed minions, with guns in their hands
Your uniformed minions who after all are only men
As we are men, and women
Earth’s Children, we.
Your greed would make an end to everything we have
Everything we live for
But this is not your land
And we will not pay the price for your greed
And we will not go away.
No.
We will not go easily, no, we will not go easily.
We will not go easily, into the dreadful night.
This is not your land, no this is not your land
Our ancestors have lived here
The old gods have lived here
Since before the days when the hills were young.
Yet you want what is not yours
You try to take what is not yours
And death is all you offer us
And death is something we understand.
No, we will not go easily
Though you do what you will
Offer us your platitudes, feed us with
Words.
Your words
Your words are like your promises
Empty.
Empty like the eyes of the skull on the dry rock
Empty as the scars on the earth
Empty like the bellies of our children
When your machines have moved on.
But when we pick up the gun
The gun is not empty.
Our forests, our villages
Our land, our gods
Our world, not empty.
Call us what you will
Red terrorist, Maoist, Anti-national
Call us what you will, but
Our world is not empty.
We will pay with our blood
Yes we will pay with our blood
We will water the land with our blood
And it will be our land.
Our words, our promises
Are not empty.
Copyright B Purkayastha 2011/12
Note: Operation Green Hunt is the Indian Government's war against its own rural poor living in the forest areas of the nation, in order to take their lands and hand it over to mining companies in the guise of "fighting Maoism". The woman in the picture is one of the Maoist guerrillas whom the so-called Prime Minister of the nation has called its "greatest internal security threat"; greater than corruption, overpopulation, a crumbling infrastructure, and environmental collapse put together. Not a surprise: the Maoists stand in the way of crony-capitalist mining corporations and their profits.
Very moving poetry. Especially for those of us who know a little of whats happening.
ReplyDeleteSad to know how often governments disregard human beings, mainly the unfavoured, with the purpose of getting more and more money...
ReplyDeletethank you Bill
ReplyDeleteBlessed are Earth's children!
the vulture capitalists, not so much ...
Carina
I think I have seen this poem before. It is so very powerful. The woman in the picture doesn't look particularly scary.
ReplyDelete