We cannot cross until we carry each other
all of us refugees, all of us prophets.
No more taking turns on history’s wheel
trying to collect old debts no one can pay.
The sea will not open that way.
This time the country we hoped for
was each other
our rage pressed cheek to cheek
until tears filled the space between us
until there are no enemies left
because this time no one will be left to drown
and all of us must be chosen.
This time it’s all of us or none.
Based on an excerpt from: Red Sea: April 2002 by Aurora Levins Morales