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The birthday of the world

BY MARGE PIERCY

On the birthday of the world 
I begin to contemplate 
what I have done and left 
undone, but this year 
not so much rebuilding

of my perennially damaged 
psyche, shoring up eroding 
friendships, digging out 
stumps of old resentments 
that refuse to rot on their own.

No, this year I want to call 
myself to task for what 
I have done and not done 
for peace. How much have 
I dared in opposition?

How much have I put 
on the line for freedom? 
For mine and others? 
As these freedoms are pared, 
sliced and diced, where

have I spoken out? Who 
have I tried to move? In 
this holy season, I stand 
self-convicted of sloth 
in a time when lies choke

the mind and rhetoric 
bends reason to slithering 
choking pythons. Here 
I stand before the gates 
opening, the fire dazzling

my eyes, and as I approach 
what judges me, I judge 
myself. Give me weapons 
of minute destruction. Let 
my words turn into sparks.

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