We are not, but could be.
We don't speak languages, but dialects.
We don't have religions, but superstitions.
We don't create art, but handicrafts.
We don't have culture, but folklore.
We are not human beings, but human resources.
We do not have faces, but arms.
We do not have names, but numbers.
We do not appear in the history of the world,
but in the police blotter of the local papers.
The nobodies, who are not worth the bullets that kill them.
Eduardo Galeano, The Book of Embraces
Wow, this is quite a poem! Now I have to find about the author. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYes, I ought to look up his book and read more into his biography.
ReplyDeleteTerrific poem- it really burns into the shadows of the past colonialism, and the worst aspects of dictatorships and repressive regimes of power and abuse that litter man's history- all the injustices are here - it's so well crafted to get it all in such a small space.
ReplyDeleteThanks. This is is a real gift- Like you I need to find out more about this writer !
You have said it very well, too.
ReplyDelete