Gus Miclat's Poem--

Salute to the peoples of Burma/Myanmar

 

We only have pots and pans

And a three-finger salute

To ward off evil sweeping our land

 

Beasts posing behind creased uniforms,

Stars on their shoulders

 

We only have pots and pans

And a three-finger salute

 

To dodge and do battle with rubber and bullets

From snipers and cowards behind iron behemoths

And rage against our stolen freedoms

 

We only have pots and pans

And a three-finger salute

Our votes. Our voices

 

To confront the brute force of overstaying generals and greedy elites

Who pillage our lands, our rivers, our jade and our blood

 

We only have pots and pans

And a three-finger salute

To rally in the townships, in factories, in hospitals, universities and streets

Across Irrawaddy, our vast plains and mountains

 

We only have pots and pans

And a three-finger salute

In solidarity with friends all over the world

Showing that we are a people unchained, unbowed, united in purpose

Kachin, Rohingya, Rakhine, Kayin, Mon, Karen, Karenni, Kayah, Shan, Wa, Chin, Bamar

 

We only have pots and pans

And a three-finger salute

To remind ourselves

That we are no longer cowed. We will fight to the end

With our feeble yet defiant barricades, with our blood and lives if need be

Until

 

Our pots and pans are crumpled and beaten

Our three-finger salutes are stiffened and hardened

In defending and asserting democracy

 

Until

We slay the monsters

Our pagodas reverberate with chants

Our lakes are swum, there is dancing in the streets

And our people are finally set free.

 

Gus Miclat

March 23, 2021

 

Gus Miclat read this at a Human Rights meeting in the Philippines.