Che

In my hometown At a busy intersection They have placed A bust of yours, Che Kids ask who this is Their parents know not who he is They mumble nonsense The kids look perplexed Then there are the young ones Who speed on bikes High on Indian hash Overrun unfortunate puppies And kitten on the road During evening rush hour Which they think Is a revolution of sort They have your image On their T-Shirts They know not who you are But just Che – a nobody From wilderness Who stirred emotions Somewhere in Bolivia And in Latin America Where kitchens didn’t burn But only stomachs On this rainy day When skeletal remains Of starving humanity Wail across the globe Like overrun kitten and puppies Che, lemme prostrate Before your bust And call you, dear friend of Neruda Please keep coming back To blast the bastions Of the Batistas We need your fire Intelligence and power To deliver us from the yoke However unending the task They might sever your hands Parcel them to lands To terrorize those Who straighten their spines But do please keep coming back Che, so that our kids know Who Guevara was And don his mantle Che, please keep igniting the fire Of an oppressed fraternity This lonely cold rainy night Of looming darkness and pain So men rise again To confront guns and pain With unbending steel-like spine