Burn our land
burn our dreams
pour acid onto our songs
cover with saw dust
the blood of our massacred people
muffle with your technology
the screams of all that is free,
wild and indigenous.
Destroy.

Destroy
our grass and soil
raze to the ground
every farm and every village
our ancestors had built
every tree, every home
every book, every law
and all the equity and harmony.

Flatten with your bombs
every valley; erase with your edicts
our past
our literature; our metaphor
Denude the forests
and the earth
till no insect,
no bird
no word
can find a place to hide.
Do that and more.
I do not fear your tyranny
I do not despair ever
for I guard one seed
a little live seed
That I shall safeguard
and plant again.

Anon.

Palestinian poem read by Vandana Shiva at the Seed Freedom event in London on 9th February 2013: http://tiny.cc/fn16rw.

Poem published in the ‘Seed Freedom: A Global Citizens’ Report’: http://www.navdanya.org/attachments/Seed%20Freedom_Revised_8-10-2012.pdf

Photo: Timothy Allen: http://on.fb.me/1H69UVx

Photo: Timothy Allen: http://on.fb.me/1H69UVx