Poem for Hugo Chavez\n\nBecause you know\nThat pain is not\nOur motherland\n\nThat suffering \nIs not our\nDivine right\n\nThat heaven is\nWhat we make \nOn earth\n\nLike houses\nLove \nAnd bread\n\nBecause you come\nFrom the heart\nOf the soil\n\nAnd do not sprinkle us\nWith holy water\nPie-in-the-sky lies and\nAshes to ashes dust to dust\n\nBecause you know \nThat your big mouth\nAnd your curly hair\n\nIs African\nAnd your brown skin\nAnd dark eyes is Indian\n\nBecause you don't point\nTo Europe for\nBeauty or salvation\n\nBecause you know\nAs Che and Fidel and \nMaurice Bishop and Roque Dalton\n\nAnd Walter Rodney\nAnd Neruda and Allende\nAnd Patrice Lumumba\n\nThat life is what\nWe make with our \nHands\n\nBecause you know as Jesus \nThat it is not difficult to\nMultiply bread and fish\n\nThat oil is not \nThe lifeblood\nOf the earth\n\nThat it should not \nRun through our veins\nLike fear\n\nBecause you are David\nIn the shadow\nOf Goliath\n\nAnd know that \nThe price of freedom\nIs love\n\n_ Tony Medina