We RISE
For thousands of years our villages have burned.
And for thousands of years we have continued to rise.
For thousands of years our villages have burned.
For thousands of years, empires have waged war upon humanity.
Time and time again, homes and families destroyed,
Crops and hopes destroyed,
Women and children taken
Fathers and sons taken
Devastating grief and loss with cries ringing out for millennia
Time and time again, we have risen
Despite the never-ending affront to our peace,
to our homesteads,
to our humanity
Time and time again, we have risen.
Time and time again we have returned to our hearts,
To each other
We have continued to dance
To sing
Continued to pass stories along to our children
Despite the relentless drums of war
We have continued to rise
We have continued to dig our hands into the soil
To plant seeds for the present and future
To water our dreams
To nourish our families
To celebrate with our communities
Despite the empire’s continued attempts to put out the flames of our Love
Our Devotion
Our Freedom
Our Sovereignty
Our will to move forward with Joy and Grace
Despite the relentless attempts to put out this flame,
It continues to burn.
At times..
a faint ember in the deep darkness
And at times,
a raging wildfire sweeping across the hearts and minds of humankind
While the face and methodologies of empire have shifted over time…
Just as a rose by any other name, is still a rose
An empire by any other name, is still empire.
It may parade behind one mask on these lands,
And expand behind another mask on those lands,
But the devastation in it’s wake..
is unmistakable.
The cries of mothers mourning the loss of their children is unmistakable
The scorched earth… the piles of rubble and ash where thriving villages once hummed
And in other places.. not as obvious.. just a continuous ticking away
A steady drone of machinery while the empire continues to expand,
covered by the sounds of modern day:
Television and programming,
highways and planes,
the never ending feed of distractions on our hand-held computer masters…
What ever would we do without them?
Give them bread. Give them circus.. they will not revolt
The bread has become rotten. The circus twisted and abusive.
The expansion continues.
Some have grown numb. Some de-sensitized to the continuous loss of humanity.
Carry on. Keep scrolling, Keep grinding. Keep selling.
Another village burned here… another 100 children bombed there.. another missing woman we never knew..
The devastation in it’s wake is unmistakable.
But somewhere.. through the darkness,
through the endless feed,
beyond all the noise..
That flame still burns
The flame of our Love
Our Devotion
Our Freedom
Our Sovereignty
Our will to move forward with Joy and Grace
All across the planet, people continue to gather around the fire
To dance
To sing
To celebrate our communities
All across the planet, people continue to dig their hands into the Earth
To plant seeds for the present and future
To water our dreams
To nourish our families
To pass these ways along to our children
Do not lose hope. Do not forget this flame we all carry.
Do not allow empire to de-sensitize us.. from our humanity.
For thousands of years our villages have burned.
And for thousands of years we have continued to rise.
Time and time again.
We Rise.
~Alais Clay
June 21, 2026