(Sen. John McCain addresses a rally before <br />'compassionate conservatives'} <br /> <br />“My fellow prisoners <br />how did we get here, <br />damaging freedoms gained by <br />two hundred years of idealism, <br />blood and death? <br />We suspend the constitution, <br />listen to each other’s private conversations, <br />spy on each other’s books, <br />web stalk one another’s electrical journeys, <br />creep into the private room of imagination, <br />with fear as our constant companion, <br />seek out “enemy combatants, ” <br />creating more bombs in the name of peace. <br /> <br />My fellow prisoners <br />how do we do it? <br />We extend our prisons to lands <br />beyond our own shores, <br />practice torture beyond, <br />all conscionable definition. <br />Our prisons were already places of torment, <br />swollen with the bodies of our people, <br />of the poor, brown, and black. <br /> <br />We are willing to suffocate our progeny <br />in the ghettos of inner cities, <br />pull to their knees, <br />those who built our skyscrapers, <br />release the fragile hand of the elders, <br />who once held ours in childhood, <br />and as we do, <br /> the soul becomes a small bird, <br />barely breathing in a dark box. <br /> <br />My fellow prisoners <br />is too late for us? <br />Can we yet flee these deadly pens, <br />we who are the judge, jury and the jailer? <br />There, on that distant shore of Forgiveness, <br />is a place of Refuge. <br />Will we make it to <br />the ocean of Compassion, <br />seek out a new future, create a new world? <br /> Rise up now, the darkness engulfs us, <br />Let us run with all your might! <br />Escape with our best hope and determination <br />save ourselves now - if we can! ”<br /><br />Maria J. Andrade<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-fellow-prisoners/
