Saturday, July 15, 2017

Poem "When Cesar Chavez Died" April 23

Copyright © 1997, 2017
By Diana Washington Valdez
Cesar Chavez (Verso/Tumblr)

When Cesar Chávez died
grief flooded the fields

Dusty sandaled feet,
Darkened faces seared by sun,
Hands scarred by thorns,
Wounds and overuse;
The arrow of death flung
Stilled Cesar’s soul today,
Stunned farm workers
Gather, stare at one another,
Arrayed in stony disbelief,
In unbearable quiet silence;
Their stout hearts crushed;
Their hot tears and mine combine,
A river of grief begins to flow,
Watering the soil across the land,
From the grape yards of California,
To the apple groves of Pennsylvania.
The man who sets souls on fire,
yields his body to the field.

By Diana Washington Valdez

[Cesar Chavez died April 23, 1993. He and
Dolores Huerta co-founded the
United Farm Workers Union.]


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