Angele Toomey Poetry

Today I am reposting a poem, with only slight modification, I had originally written in response to the military coup in Myanmar (Burma). https://wordpress.com/post/angeletoomeypoetry.com/532

If I think too hard about what is happening in Europe at the moment I will end up in a very dark and sad place.

Freedom 
You cannot extinguish the light of freedom.   
You can shoot the messenger,   
turn off the electricity, 
or destroy network connections   
through which it flows more readily,  
but you cannot extinguish the light of freedom.  

That deep yearning comes from a place  
that torture cannot reach.  
It is a truth that stands in defiance of 
misinformation and puppeteer machinations.
It has manifested across millennia,  
often carried by people 
who did the most seditious thing imaginable-  
they lived to pass their story on.  

You cannot extinguish the light of freedom  
Because it is written in our DNA
driving a hunger only democracy can satisfy. 
It does not need symbols or words.  
Long after you have fallen,  
a mere footnote in history;  
Long after your bones are dust,  
The light of freedom will burn on.