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Description
"TO JASM"
The Revolutionary as Poet
jose maria sison
january 1982

radiance on the face of mother,
where the sun is banned,
you were already a prisoner
beyond the warmth of a womb.

you have freed yourself
from one enclosure to another,
to a blind tombs built by ogres
who shun the birth of a new life.

so soon are you robbed
of green earth, streams, fresh wind,

raging flowers and chirping birds,
sun, moon and stars in the sky.

what have you in this shut-in space?
sickening heat most of the day,
a holocaust of dust and gas fumes
finds every reason for cruelty.

and yet our joy is boundless.
we crowd this room with our love,
defy the arrogant walls
and reach out to those who care.

were you freed from this cell,
there is still a larger prison
where the people must struggle
to win the sphere of freedom.

life is a series of struggles
against definite kinds of prison.
as you grow, you will know freedom
is won as at your birthing.

someday you will prove
that since birth you have been
in the thick of struggle.
thus, we call you our jasm.

feed well from the breast
of your mother the courage
and strength to bring down
the walls of tyranny in the land.

Description
"TO JASM"
The Revolutionary as Poet
jose maria sison
january 1982

radiance on the face of mother,
where the sun is banned,
you were already a prisoner
beyond the warmth of a womb.

you have freed yourself
from one enclosure to another,
to a blind tombs built by ogres
who shun the birth of a new life.

so soon are you robbed
of green earth, streams, fresh wind,

raging flowers and chirping birds,
sun, moon and stars in the sky.

what have you in this shut-in space?
sickening heat most of the day,
a holocaust of dust and gas fumes
finds every reason for cruelty.

and yet our joy is boundless.
we crowd this room with our love,
defy the arrogant walls
and reach out to those who care.

were you freed from this cell,
there is still a larger prison
where the people must struggle
to win the sphere of freedom.

life is a series of struggles
against definite kinds of prison.
as you grow, you will know freedom
is won as at your birthing.

someday you will prove
that since birth you have been
in the thick of struggle.
thus, we call you our jasm.

feed well from the breast
of your mother the courage
and strength to bring down
the walls of tyranny in the land.