The Side I’m On
I’m on the side
of the little kid who can’t stop shaking
the side of the mother who just got the phone call
that said run evacuate
I’m on the side of
the young man
Just stepping into the crosshairs
the woman being raped
I’m on the side of the old man
coughing up smoke
of babies in daycare
in a target rich neighbourhood
I’m on the side of noncombatants
the ones taken captive
I’m on the side of those vomiting with fear
I stand with
those who lost their legs
with the infant suckling
at a mother who is no more
I’m on the side of the boy
who wanted to be a poet
the girl who wanted to be a doctor
I stand with those hiding and praying
I stand with those trying to quiet
their children
trying to quiet their own hearts
people in the way
burning
I stand among those who have not strangled
their empathy
I’m on the side of the woman
trapped in the rubble
the ones the bullet
just missed
the one ten bullets
danced to death
I side with those who see no way out
no way in
those who are the last
of their family
the young of Yemen
the terrified in Nigeria
those who pray for deliverance
in Colombia
I’m on the side of
the one digging
her nails into her palms
the one whose cries of no
have never been heard
the old woman who has forgotten
and the young man who can’t stop remembering
the ones who dared march for human rights
the ones who didn’t succumb to hate
the ones who refused to obey orders
the ones who couldn’t pull the trigger
I’m on the side of those
seeking shelter
those who are not senseless with rage
I’m on the side of those who won’t kill
the boy gasping in his own blood
the people trapped between war machines
those under heat seeking missiles
I’m on the side of the evaporated
of the tortured
I’m on the side of those crammed in
of those who spoke out
I’m on the side of those whose sons and daughters
are sent out to slaughter or be slaughtered
the side of those whose nation
is no more
those for whom there’s never been a home
the ones used as messages
the infant halfway through the alphabet song
I’m on the side of those
who haven’t been talked out of compassion
of those whose deaths fill a quota
of those whose voices I’ll never hear
of those on their way to a mass grave
of those whose deaths are part of an estimated number
I stand for the nonviolent
for civilians who can’t get out of the way
for whom there is no road or vessel
for those who were just going to the market
for those who just happened to be in the wrong place
for those whose grief can only grow
of those who will never even vaguely know justice
of any kind
I stand with the plague ridden
those who bear no insignia or uniform
I stand with those whose village is just now being circled on a map
those whose names won’t make it
to casualty lists or newspapers or tombstones
I stand with the thirsty
the children of Yemen
the women of Afghanistan and Iran
the hunted of Burma
the famished of Eritrea
the vanished of Canada
those in unmarked graves
I’m on the side of the lost
the blinded
the impoverished
the disappeared
those whose land has been stolen
the scapegoated other
I stand with the hopeless
and the hopeful
with the ones who sang for peace on earth
and the one who sang
everywhere is war