photo courtesy of Getty Images
Walk with your head held high.
Walk with the fire of freedom in your eyes.
Walk to dispel the lies.
Walk with a vision of the basic right of self-determinism
for all people.
for all people.
Walk like a true patriot.
Walk in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin.
Walk with your friends by your side.
Walk with your lover by your side.
Walk to stand side by side with the old and the young.
Walk to show the politicians you are coming
Walk to show the politicians what true democracy
sounds like: THUNDER!!!
sounds like: THUNDER!!!
Walk with these lyrics pounding in your brain:
Call out the instigator/because there's something in the air.
Call out the instigator/because there's something in the air.
Walk to demonstrate that the TRUE power always lies with the PEOPLE.
Walk to demonstrate that the people have given too much of their power away.
Walk to demonstrate the sleeping giant has awakened.
Walk to demonstrate that the few will no longer dictate to the many.
Walk to demonstrate that government must be our servant, not our master.
Walk with these lyrics swirling in your head:
They come, they come/to build a wall between us/don't let them win!
They come, they come/to build a wall between us/don't let them win!
Walk to bring the oppressors to their knees.
Walk to throw the bums out.
Walk to kick in the doors.
Walk to tear down the walls.
Walk to emblazon the walls with this slogan:
If not us, who? If not now, when?
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Walk in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.
Walk in the spirit of the sixties.
Walk to end the abuse of power.
Walk to empower the powerless.
Walk to show that the masses will no longer be the asses.
Walk to the rallying cry of the trumpet.
Walk pledging no retreat.
Walk for the liberation of man.
Walk to bring sanity back to humanity.
Walk to honor the dreamers.
Walk to create the world in our own image.
Walk in the spirit of Gandhi.
Walk with the fervent prayer that revolutionaries
no longer become just like their oppressors.
Oh you are preaching to the choir here! I am SO ready to walk in these footsteps, just tell me the time and place!! GREAT rallying cry, Timoteo. I love every word and line! Especially the prayer that the revolutionaries dont become like their oppressors. So well written!
ReplyDeleteAwaken Atlas!
ReplyDeleteWalk that closing pathway,
Prune this crimping mire,
Brave the scars.
Randish, Timoteo... we walk. _m
Powerful words lofty goals but let us try...
ReplyDeleteWOW brilliant and indeed powerful
ReplyDeleteOh, Timoteo... this was amazing.
ReplyDeletewow..
ReplyDeletethis is creative, entertaining, and beautiful.
Glad to learn about the culture in your words.
A++
Brilliant... powerful... stunning imagery.
ReplyDeletehands up for peace and your creative writing!
ReplyDelete:)
You have a way of writing that creates imagery that is vivid.
ReplyDeleteJP
http://tasithoughts.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/beyond-the-ceiling/
Clever and brilliant. Combining a classic rhetoric style with The Bangles. I love it. This is my favourite line - 'Walk with the fervent prayer that revolutionaries no longer become just like their oppressors.'
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah!
SHERRY.
ReplyDeleteLet's take to the streets together...only thing, we'll have to decide WHICH streets!
MAGYAR,
I can always count on you for a great quote!
LORRAINE,
Thank you, my sweet!
SELMA,
So great to hear from you again!
TERI, THINGY, JINGLE, REFLECTIONS, BENDED SPOON, TASITHOUGHTS... Thanks y'all...I'm coming to visit you now!
Like others I especially like your last line about the oppressed not becoming the oppressors. I also like the refrain of "walk like an Egyptian" which I remember as a somewhat making-fun-of-the-stereotypical-"them" refrain in a teeny bopper little ditty. Very very nice. Inspired and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteInteresting take! I like it! Here's mine at www.WorkspaceWritings.com http://tinyurl.com/4h9eqzg
ReplyDeleteYes! So glad to see some of the One Shotters this week taking up the banner and the image of the Egyptian struggle to poetics. Been following and writing and updating about those events all week...
ReplyDeleteWitty, inspirational - would that we all would start taking steps forward instead of back. Would that all the world would work as the Egyptians are working. You've brought here a rallying cry to some powerful, moving goals - and while many might say the goals are out-of-reach, the world seems oft too-quickly willing to forget that we will never know until we try...and a potent ending point too: we must not let ourselves get caught up in the moment, either. Often, the power tempts, and those that started with good intentions allow themselves to fall victim to the same thing they were once fighting against...Well-written piece, with some great sentiments.
Pleased to see you took up the subject, which still feels a bit too close yet for me to write about. I've been watching Al Jazeera coverage, which is so much better than our own stations'.
ReplyDeleteInteresting structure, with your stanza lengths increasing as you come to the point of violence. Like the use of the refrain. It has an authority about it.
Extremely topical and well written. Let's hope the people find the freedom and strength they so deserve
ReplyDeleteI'll never listen to The Bangles the same way again. thanks for writing this one. Bravo.
ReplyDeletewell done...you are a lorax...speaking from your heart of justice.
ReplyDeleteclap clap clap clap...excellent social commentary...great one shot.
ReplyDeleteWell said. Things that have lain dormant finally stir, and the people can sleep and trust the wolf to guard them no longer. "..Walk to demonstrate that the people have given too much of their power away...."
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, love it :)
ReplyDeleteARLENE,
ReplyDeleteYou got it! And we can all do that Egyptian walk that The Bangles popularized...as long as it's for a noble cause!
CIANPHELAN,
Thanks for your thoughtful take on this--and for taking the time to write it. We must never underestimate the power of the people to effect change...whether in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world.
LAURA X,
Your comments always move me...thanks!
HEDGEWITCH,
Trusting the wolf to guard them...I like that.
JRM, MAUREEN, REPRESSED SOUL, DUSTUS, BRIAN, SHORT POEMS...thanks for your remarks, they are well appreciated!
Bravo, bravo. Very good. Big smiles here. Thank you!
ReplyDeletePower to the People. Let's hope for peace.
Excellent one shot - so timely
ReplyDeleteWow. Tim, this is awesome. People have the power to bring change. They need only exercise it. (This is me, fist pumping in the air.)
ReplyDeleteWonderful! It truly is a time for all these exciting events. Hopefully, it will be more peaceful.
ReplyDeleteA powerful and timely write - great poem!
ReplyDeleteBRAVO!
ReplyDeletetears of the sky fall to the ground
with you on this...excellent and well said..pete
ReplyDeleteOh... brilliant stuff, Tim!! And a great motto to live by!
ReplyDeleteIntense and powerful, this poem was packed with pride and honor...
Yes... LOVED IT!!!
wow timoteo - this makes me wanna grab the flag and walk for freedom and liberty and love and...
ReplyDeleteexcellent!! you should go into politics!!
Yes!!! I join you, Timoteo, in this walk with the Egyptian people to end all oppressive acts. Love the resoluteness in your deeply passionate poem!
ReplyDeleteClaudia,
ReplyDeleteI would run for office, but then I'd have to move everything from this office to the other office!
JamiDedes, Marousia, PattiKen, Millie, Louise, Guatami, Pete, Kavita, Belinda...you are freedom loving folk!!!
Solid cry to (non-)arms. Good piece.
ReplyDeleteDitto all that!
ReplyDelete