Andean Risings

As the sacred Andes
rise up
so the people now
in Ecuador and Chile,
Bolivia and Colombia,
Brazil and Peru,
rise up
like the great spine of the mountains.

Their energy
trembles the Andes,
trembles me.  We
want only
what the earth wants;
to distribute her gifts
equally to all beings.
Water. Sustenance.
Lives of beauty and merit,
the ant, the beetle, the puma, the human,
each in our sacred places,
which no other being can fill.

The two-leggeds in the Andes
have finished with diminishment.
Mothers lead their peoples to stand
The women say,
the way of harmony demands
risking death in the streets.
No more death by silent acquiescence,
by starvation, by thirst,
by policies of corporate puppets.

The Andean two-leggeds rise
shining their dignity like diamonds
along South Amerca’s backbone.
Gaia thrusts them into view
for the rest of us to learn
what deep changes are needed
to treat all beings as family.

©Susa Silvermarie 2019

Santiago residents honor those who have died in the unrest since the protests began in Chile on Oct. 20