ALICE WALKER: LOVING HUMANS

Loving Humans

 Loving humans
Is tricky
Sometimes
A slap
In the face
Is all you get
For doing it
Just right.

Loving humans is a job
Like any other
Only
More
Bumps
On the way
To work
Which is full on
All the time.

Loving humans
Makes us
Want
To invite
Ourselves to tea
With rancid
Dictators
We think we
Can convince
Of our
Story’s side
While all
They think
About
While
We sit & dream
Is how
They can
Get away
With
Poisoning
Our tea.

And how
If only they
Had
Enough tea
Already
Brewed
They could
Waterboard us
To death
With it.

Loving humans
Means
Writing poems & songs
Novels & plays, slogans, chants
& protest signs
Our critics
Want
To stone
Us for
While
We think of
Them
As people
Under different
Circumstances
We might
Be able
To help.

There is
Indeed
A Buddha
In
Every one
Of us
Loving humans
With all
Our clear &
Unmistakable
Reluctance
To evolve
Makes this hard
For most humans
To see.

But not you.

 

— Alice Walker

 From Hard Times Require Furious Dancing