LOVE POEM
Zilka Joseph
look into my eyes America
how easy it is to dream in color
oh say white say red say blue
we who made and make you still
we have built
your towers
your tracks your bridges
with our bones
from sea to shining sea this is our home
home is where the heart is
yes all the broken ones
we pick your fruit sing hosanna
we build our hearths here
we bake bread that we break together
we give thanks for each grain
we feed the hungry
for we have known hunger
see this mouth it sings peace
in every language
watch my face shine it will light up
your pavements your alleys
your castles your shacks
your thirsty fields
like a harvest moon
after blight and famine
and give back to us
the dollars like shekels
you have stolen forever
study then the maps inside my eyes
see the world
yes feel my heartbeat touch my human skin
it is real and see our scars they are the same
our scars we carry them thick and ugly
we who are no stranger to dust and ashes
here is my war-torn hand
here are my lips let me kiss your cheek
where do we end
where do we begin
when I say love I mean you
when I say home I mean you
when I say to you
we are so beautiful do not turn away
do not shatter America America
for richer for poorer
we are your beautiful bones
your heart
your veins
why are you afraid our blood is the same color
our skin so easy to dissolve
frail border between this world and the next
oh sing with me sing with me what is made one
we who are embraced
by sweet Lady Liberty
and we who are made so beautiful so varied
so new
so whole again
inside the harbor
of your arms oh America
do not lead us into darkness
hate our gods our children
throw us not into camps and ghettos
smash your jackboots into us
but deliver yourself from that dagger in your hands
your eyes your heart
the dagger you have become
