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“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 withoutrest?

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