For The Record

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

The clouds and the stars didn’t wage this war

the brooks gave no information

if the mountain spewed stones of fire into the river

it was not taking sides

the raindrop faintly swaying under the leaf

had no political opinions

and if here or there a house

filled with backed-up raw sewage

or poisoned those who lived there

with slow fumes, over years

the houses were not at war

nor did the tinned-up buildings

intend to refuse shelter

to homeless old women and roaming children

they had no policy to keep them roaming

or dying, no, the cities were not the problem

the bridges were non-partisan

the freeways burned, but not with hatred

Even the miles of barbed-wire

stretched around crouching temporary huts

designed to keep the unwanted

at a safe distance, out of sight

even the boards that had to absorb

year upon year, so many human sounds

so many depths of vomit, tears

slow-soaking blood

had not offered themselves for this

The trees didn’t volunteer to be cut into boards

nor the thorns for tearing flesh

Look around at all of it

and ask whose signature

is stamped on the orders, traced

in the corner of the building plans

Ask where the illiterate, big-bellied

women were, the drunks and crazies,

the ones you fear most of all: ask where you were.

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Poems in English 

• Lover’s Gifts XLVIII: I Travelled the Old Road by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XLVII: The Road Is by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XLIV: Where Is Heaven by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XLIII: Dying, You Have Left Behind by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XLII: Are You a Mere Picture by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XL: A Message Came by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XIX: It Is Written in the Book by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts XIII: Last Night in the Garden by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts VIII: There Is Room for You by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts V: I Would Ask For Still More by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts LXX: Take Back Your Coins by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts LVIII: Things Throng and Laugh by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts LIV: In the Beginning of Time by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts LII: Tired of Waiting by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts IV: She Is Near to My Heart by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lover’s Gifts II: Come to My Garden Walk by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lotus by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lost Time by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Lost Star by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Little Of Me by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore

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