How to speak, that what would live may live,
even if bruised. Even if misunderstood.
Death will come anyway, with its final
silence. Why rush its hand?
If fear is here anyway, let us use it. Your
silence will not protect you. There is
love here, even in war. And company,
in the refusal to swallow a tyranny
of silence, the refusal to comply
in becoming the next casualty.
In becoming, may we live visibly
to speak, share, spread life
creative and continuing
in growth,
to find
the others.
***
Inspired by Audre Lorde’s “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” from Sister Outsider. Italicized phrases are Lorde’s.