<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font size="+1" class="">Here for Life<br class=""><br class=""></font><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">(Vandenberg Air Force Base, January 1983;<br class="">first blockade of MX Missile testing)<br class=""></i></span><font size="+1" class=""><br class=""><br class="">I am here — <br class="">I wear the old-ones’ jade —<br class="">it’s life, they said & precious;<br class="">turquoise I’ve sought to hone my visions;<br class="">& coral to cultivate the heart;<br class="">mother of pearl for purity.<br class=""><br class="">I have put on what power I could<br class="">to tell you there are mountains<br class="">where the stones sleep —<br class=""> hawks nest there<br class="">& lichens older than the ice is cold.<br class=""><br class="">The sea is vast & deep<br class="">keeping secrets<br class="">darker than the rocks are hard.<br class=""><br class="">I am here to tell you<br class="">the Earth is made of things<br class="">so much themselves<br class="">they make the angels kneel.<br class="">We walk among them<br class="">& they are certain as the rain is wet<br class="">& they are fragile as the pine is tall.<br class=""><br class="">We, too, belong to them;<br class="">they count upon our singing,<br class="">the footfalls of our dance,<br class="">our children’s shouts, their laughter.<br class=""><br class="">I am here for the unfinished song,<br class="">the uncompleted dance,<br class="">the healing,<br class="">the dreadful fakes of love.<br class=""> I am here for life<br class=""> & I will not go away.<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""> - Rafael Jesús González</font></div></body></html>