I am a warrior, a warrior for peace
A warrior for a better life
A warrior for a little food and a little shelter
A warrior for social justice
For utter dignity
For the man on the street,
Battling with my pen
On my white coarse canvass
Against war, poverty
And the powers that be.
But there’s much more war and poverty
Than warriors dishing out poetry
To counter the oppression
To create much of an impression.
The canvass doesn’t reach its audience.
And we need more canvasses
And many more warriors brandishing pens.
So shake off this inertia of ignorance
My fellow warriors, and hand each other those pens
So that we can march against the enemy
And force its eyes on the harsh reality of our canvasses
So that our children don’t need to fight
Tomorrow for everybody’s rights,
So that the overall darkness is less than the light.
And the sounds of laughter drown the silence
That haunts us today.