Freedom of Existence, digital painting by R Gopakumar, India. Poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, San Francisco, USA

(copyright R Gopakumar)
(copyright R Gopakumar)

“SONG OF THE THIRD WORLD BIRDS

A cock cried out in my sleep
         somewhere in Middle America
                      to awake the Middle Mind
                                                          of America
And the cock cried out
               to awake me to see
                              a sea of birds
                                       flying over me
                                                   across America

And there were birds of every color
                 black birds & brown birds  
                      & yellow birds & red birds 
                              from the lands of every 
                                      liberation movement          

And all these birds circled the earth
        and flew over every great nation
                     and over fortress America
                                     with its great eagle
                                         and its thunderbolts

And all the birds cried out with one voice
      the voice of those who have no voice
      the voice of the invisibles of the world
  the voice of the dispossessed of the world
             the fellaheen peoples of earth
   
And which side are you on
                                                sang the birds
       Oh which side are you on
                         in the Third World War
                 the war against the Third World?

 

Link: http://www.citylights.com/Ferlinghetti/?fa=ferlinghetti_poems