I have often written about freedom, about what it means, how it is distorted, when it comes, how it almost always feels like it is out of reach, how we are deceived into believing it has arrived, how we continue to yearn for it. This short poetic piece is a reflection of my feelings about how resistance and agitation for all manner of freedoms are generational and transnational struggles. We stand where we are, pushing for freedom, being able to imagine it, only because of those who came before us, who fought for the same freedoms we fight for now. And our cross-continental, cross generational struggles are connected. And so, we also draw strength from those fighting similar battles elsewhere in the world. And those who will come after us draw strength from all who have lived before them. We become unstoppable across time and space. Together. This is what they say to us.This is what we say to them:

Despite the distance of time

We know your lives

Because we live brokenness

Everyday.

Scars of the wounds you suffer now

Are old friends marked beneath our skin.

The toxic fumes you breathe in

Now

Have already blackened our lungs.

But our souls…

Our souls are pure

For you

Forever

We live

Here

For you

Forever

We will be

Here

For you

Forever

Forever

Forever.

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