Leave the door open. Leave the door open to radiant hope! Give the key to the poor man! Whose key to hope is the only way When the weight of life is a bottomless well. How did the human get here? This is the deceptive system of greed. The number of weapons keeps increasing, And the cruel king's dream comes true. But what is the price of this? Maybe it's the captivity of the roaring difference... Starving children are forced to the streets... Or a lot of garbage in the ocean. hmm.. A song is written on the table of...

By Mafalda Silva, Poverty Activist team August 2022 In 2022, after a RESET ECLIPSE, the History of Planet EARTH is rewritten, but this time, with some SPECIAL POWERS… In a neighborhood far away in the Universe, There is a young Woman Planet. Her name is Ms. Earth Perfect, Perfect for Her Planet friends. With Green Eyes and Blue Hair, She is full of Life and Energy. There are Humans and Animals, in all different shapes, sizes and colours. She also has many different accessories – covered in nutrients and colours. She is a beautiful young Woman, full of Life, full...

"The Masque of Anarchy" is a British political poem written in 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley, following the Peterloo massacre of that year in Manchester. In his call for freedom, it is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent resistance. It was banned from printing for 30 years.     The Masque of Anarchy Here are some selected verses: "Ye who suffer woes untold, Or to feel, or to behold Your lost country bought and sold With a price of blood and gold. Let a vast assembly be, And with great solemnity Declare with measured words that...

Together we can do this We want to have a future that is open for us all where it is not the 1 % who has the power Never mind skin or religion, age or nationality We've more in common than divides us anyway! Chorus: Together we can do this and together we must fight Only together do we have a chance to really put things right The farmer in Malawi, her crops ruined by the drought The homeless in the food bank queue in Hull They're casualties of capitalism, struggling to survive and they've more in common than divides...

The future needs us now The future is around the corner It actually starts today It starts by you deciding That you want to have a say Stop listening to the news that fill you with hate and fear That make you feel powerless and despair Seek out the news about the hundreds of thousands of do’ers Because, you see, they are out there Stop listening to moaners and complainers Who will not do but talk and row We have not got time for it For the future needs us, and it needs us now Don’t let anyone tell you...

Take my hand - and open your eyes    This is our land – and this is our skies! Take my hand - together we go   In this world - a lot to sow Seeds that come from deep in our hearts To sow right is a piece of art! Dirt and rubbish are flowing all over The flowers we plant can hardly cover We live in “one World” share the sea and the air Powerful humans think of profit and do not care! Life in our Oceans are under serious threat – Great “Pacific Plastic Garbage Patches” float in the...

  I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.  And I water'd it in fears, Night and morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles.  And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine.  And into my garden stole, When the night had veil'd the pole; In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath...

I'm Explaining a Few Things. You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs? and the poppy-petalled metaphysics? and the rain repeatedly spattering its words and drilling them full of apertures and birds? I'll tell you all the news. I lived in a suburb, a suburb of Madrid, with bells, and clocks, and trees. >From there you could look out over Castille's dry face: a leather ocean. My house was called the house of flowers, because in every cranny geraniums burst: it was a good-looking house with its dogs and children. Remember, Raul? Eh, Rafel? Federico, do you remember...

Til Ungdommen  by Nordahl Grieg   Norwegian: Til ungdommen[a] Kringsatt av fiender, gå inn i din tid! Under en blodig storm – vi deg til strid! Kanskje du spør i angst, udekket, åpen: hva skal jeg kjempe med, hva er mitt våpen? Her er ditt vern mot vold, her er ditt sverd: troen på livet vårt, menneskets verd. For all vår fremtids skyld, søk det og dyrk det, dø om du må – men: øk det og styrk det! Stilt går granatenes glidende bånd. Stans deres drift mot død, stans dem med ånd! Krig er forakt for liv. Fred er...

Light One Candle by Peter Jarrow   Light one candle for the Maccabee children With thanks that their light didn't die Light one candle for the pain they endured When their right to exist was denied Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice Justice and freedom demand But light one candle for the wisdom to know When the peacemaker's time is at hand [Chorus:] Don't let the light go out! It's lasted for so many years! Don't let the light go out! Let it shine through our love and our tears. Light one candle for the strength that we need...

The Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte-Marie   He's five foot-two, and he's six feet-four, He fights with missiles and with spears. He's all of thirty-one, and he's only seventeen, He's been a soldier for a thousand years. He'a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain, A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew. And he knows he shouldn't kill, And he knows he always will, Kill you for me my friend and me for you. And he's fighting for Canada, He's fighting for France, He's fighting for the USA, And he's fighting for the Russians, And he's fighting for...

Le Déserteur English translation copyright © 1983 James Prescott   Your Majesty the King, I'm writing you a letter, Though you might hear me better, if you could hear me sing. There just came through my door, my army papers warning, We leave on Monday morning, we march away to war. Well, I don't fit your plan, I must refuse the shilling, For I'm no longer willing, to kill my fellow man. Your Majesty, I say, with due consideration, It's my determination, I will desert today. I've seen my father die, I've seen my sisters grieving, My older brothers leaving,...

I DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE A LOVE POEM                                                                 by Shira, Development Instructor,   IICD Massachussetts     I don`t know how to write a love poem But I can tell you what it is like to hear Third world children screaming my name and running towards me with open arms I can tell you what it is like to have lived in Mozambique For only half a year And to return With familiar faces as I embrace The memories they have kept alive of me Calling out my name as if I have been here all along I don't know...

Salut au Monde! By Walt Whitman 1819-1892 1 O take my hand Walt Whitman! Such gliding wonders! such sights and sounds! Such join'd unended links, each hook'd to the next, Each answering all, each sharing the earth with all. What widens within you Walt Whitman? What waves and soils exuding? What climes? what persons and cities are here? Who are the infants, some playing, some slumbering? Who are the girls? who are the married women? Who are the groups of old men going slowly with their arms about each other's necks? What rivers are these? what forests and fruits are...

Manual for Climbing Mountains --by Paulo Coelho, Original Story, Dec 20, 2011  A] Choose the mountain you want to climb: don’t pay attention to what other people say, such as “that one’s more beautiful” or “this one’s easier”. You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing. B] Know how to get close to it: mountains are often seen from far off – beautiful, interesting, full of challenges. But what happens when we try to draw closer? Roads run all around them,...

Invictus by William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my...

  IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph...