Revolution pine

They came for the Jews,

but I am not a Jew so I said nothing.

They came for the children,

but I am not a child so I kept quiet.

They took the trade unionists,

and I stood aside

because I am not a trade unionist.

The voice goes on

over the candle in barb-wire logo.

The voice goes on to say,

"When they came for me,

there was no one left to stand up.

When they came for me, I was alone."

A harmless man

wants to keep an empty mind.

He doesn't want to say much

about feminism or activism.

Maybe because these words

don't fit neatly into songs.

He will say this though:

Wouldn't it be better

if we all just lived togther

without doing harm?

It's not like he ever had it really good,

he likes to play guitar,

he's not one of the bad guys.

He wants to instill happiness

in whoever hears him sing.

He remains calm in himself

knowing this calmness will spread.

Recently he read

that energy from the pine needles

can be collected in fingertips.

We're walking along a busy road

and he says, "Is this a pine?"

And I say, "This is a pine

and that's another kind of pine over there."

My fingers are out now too,

pointing, believing in pine.

"Zap!" He collects energy.

Or is this how we make ourselves feel better?

Or is this how we make ourselves feel well?

We can single him out

when we're deciding

who is political enough,

and whose expression is more useful.

A harmless man

with an emptied mind

at the side of a busy road

in the rain, makes me laugh, saying zap.

His fingers on long pine needles.

Long pine needles.

And later tonight over hot cups of tea,

someone will give me

one more account of the demonstration,

one more account of the revolution.