Where are the traces of our souls?
Where is the alchemy that sparks the insurgency; that lights this world on fire?
Does it lay dormant under a suspended gray sky?
Where does the dust of heroes rest; on the mountain peaks or in the valleys?
What wisdom transpires from the rubble; the white concrete painted crimson?
Yet with fervor you cling to the grace of God at a time like this; after a loss like this.
How do you come back from this; return from the edge of a world as this?
The deafening silence; the dark horse riding the blue zephyr to the green apple sea

Rise up!
Let your voices be carried by the defiant wind
Remember God till you are completely forgotten
Till you are the copper that evolves into gold
What are you waiting for?
Rise up!
Fight fire with water with the moisture of the cedar
With the branches of the olive; the heavy bark of the palm
Beyond, beyond the thorns to be amongst the roses
What are you waiting for?
Search beyond the prose to find the poem
Remember that words have moved this world before
Rise up!
Let your voice eclipse its own echo
Let your soul carry the weight of armies; the mass of the masses
What are you waiting for?
Grow taller than your own shadow and it will follow you
To the edge of the world
And back

[paper poetry]