(c) Poem for Martin Luther King Day by Sherwood Ross
Rise up! Rise up, Americans!
Too long have you delayed!
While imperial-minded presidents
Their cruel wars have made.
The hard-earned coin for which you toil
They waste on wars on foreign soil,
The liberties you enjoyed of late
They club to death in the police state.
Rise up! Rise up, Americans!
Take peace into the street!
Only the Pentagon gains from war
For the rest of us it's defeat.
MLK denounced the war in Viet Nam
As he would the war in Afghanistan
As King stood up to racism
Let us stand up to militarism.
Rise up! Rise up, Americans!
Take peace into the street!
It is in our hands we hold our fate
Non-violent America, demonstrate!
(Sherwood Ross is a Miami, Fl.-based reporter and award-winning poet who walked across Mississippi with The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and others in 1966 to complete James Meredith's "March Against Fear" after Meredith was shot. Reach him at sherwoodross10@gmail.com)
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