Angels of Bread

My friend Tara shared a powerful poem on her blog by a North American poet Martin Espada.

To read the poem in its entirety click here. My two favorite passages are:

this is the year
that shawled refugees deport judges
who stare at the floor
and their swollen feet
as files are stamped with their destination;

this is the year that the eyes
stinging from the poison that purifies toilets
awaken at last to the sight
of a rooster-loud hillside,
pilgrimage of immigrant birth;

This poem reminds me of the terribly real suffering of those in every society who are marginalized and oppressed. Whose very lives feed the machinery of other's success. Yet my soul sings at the heart rending beauty in these images of justice, of the triumph of weakness over power, of the victory of love over hate and domination. I still believe in such foolish ideas.