On the Burning of Churches, 1996 ...
____ by Adrian Wagner

The amber coals of years before still burn beneath the
vented face
cast from public eye
born within that eye

Do you look, to close the truth behind
to look once more at the
plastic garden around you.

Ask me if i answer, and I must remain silent
Entrapped beneath your hatred,
and my dignity.

For I fight this war without raising my fist,
until there is no longer an enemy.
I have become as passive as your beliefs would not allow.

I stand here now, witness to the crumbling monument of your hatred.

it does not shock me
it does not destroy me
and perhaps... it makes me stronger

To know the immortality of my struggle,
and the ignorance of your fear.

I will rise.
And I rise.

from the concrete jungles that have sheltered you from reality.
from the truth.

I do not march towards victory.
I do not march to one day conquer.

I march so that I may one day find rhythm within a march that
opposes no one.
One.

Photograph by Adrian Wagner