We Will Be the Change

 

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"A nation is not defeated until the hearts
of its women are on the ground."
A Cheyenne saying

Aho, Wise Grandmother says,
it is time for women
to raise our voices:
in song, in council, in power, in truth,
to speak for social and
environmental justice
for all the living.

Huff, puff, says the big bad prez,
we are going back 50 years
to the Good Old Days,
and women may not speak.
We are not, in fact,
entirely convinced you are people.

Aho, you are foolish.
We have dealt with men like you before,
and better.
We have grandchildren,
and we need to leave them
a world that is alive.
You will find us a formidable force,
for we are half the earth;
we hold up half the sky.
In strength, we bear
your sons and daughters.
Our life's purpose is
to keep them safe.
Our hearts are strong,
and no where near to
being on the ground.

You can drive us
away from the river
and the forest we are protecting.
You can lock us up.
More of us will follow,
for water is life,
and trees are our breath.
We do not respect
your ways of death.

Your addiction to oil
is polluting sacred waters.
Your addiction to money
is melting the polar icecaps
and burning the western coastline.
Your willful ignorance
is imperiling the planet.
We refuse. We resist.
Our wolfish hearts rise up.
We march for
our grandchildren's grandchildren,
and for yours.

We are the womyn of Life,  
of Breath, of Memory, of Tomorrow.
In sisterhood, in motherhood,
in our time as wise crones,
we sing the Earth Mother's song.
Our hearts are weary
but our minds are wise.

We speak for the voiceless,
for the refugees,
for the wild, for the animals,
for the air, the soil,
the ocean, the rivers, the lakes
and for all creatures.
This gives us strength.
We will not be moved,
or silenced, or overcome,
and our hearts are
no where near to
being on the ground.

for the prompt at earthweal. Brendan asks us where we turn for mentors in these times. I turn to my Inner Wild Woman, alive in every woman, especially fierce in wise crones.