“Cry of a Warrior” Poem based on Nazaré´s struggle on the Isles of Sirinhaém – by Plácido Junior
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I felt the weight of the State on me
I felt the weight of the Judiciary on me
I felt the weight of the bitter-not-sweet sugar-cane agribusiness on me
At times, the weight of the Cross bore down on me.
What wrong did I do?
Is it because I belong to the fisherfolk ?
Is it because I was born without a title deed on free-hold land?
Is it because I just couldn´t abide seeing the wee fish, the crabs and the shrimps killed-by-stenching-stillage of the Sugar Mill which I have to denounce without rest?
Why do they want to evict me and my sister from the islands, just as they evicted the other fifty-one families who lived here?
Why do they want to destroy our roots?
Why do they want to land-less us, water-less us?
Do you not know that a fish doesn´t live without water and neither do we, away from the mangrove ?
That´s why there are those who died after being evicted!
That´s why Antonia dreams daily of the islands. She had a stroke and pleads each day that God take her. So also Cosma.
That´s why Ivanildo, Antonia, Carvoeiro, Zeza … are on medicine for blood pressure, a condition they didn´t have when they lived on the islands.
Do they want to kill us?
“It was the Sugar Mill that killed me, evicting me from the islands.” (Antonia)
I´m being forced to leave the islands , me and my sister.
How will I ever survive away from the islands!
I don´t want to go hungry like the others who were evicted!
The only promise that the Sugar Mill keeps is to evict us to a life of misery.
I felt the weight of the State on me
I felt the weight of the Judiciary on me
I felt the weight of the bitter-not-sweet sugar cane agribusiness on me
At times, the weight of the Cross bore down on me.
I am returning!
We will return!
Let´s return!
Yes, I´m an Island Warrior.
www.cptne2.org.br – for more on Nazaré & the Islands of Sirinhaém