Mandela

Mandela died gone

spirit in the wind

spirit in the rain

spirit in the snow

political pressure of people 

in jail for what they believe,

for those trapped in cages

for trying to make the world a better pace,

and you knew what it meant

to be away from your family

to be property of the state, a casualty 

in the struggle for freedom

apartheid there

jim crow here

still existing in both places

people forget that Ronald Reagan

and Margaret Thatcher were the

two biggest supporters of the 

South African government in the 80’s

that kept you in chains

or that you were on the 

US Terrorist list until 2008.

Or that theres still such a thing as

political prisoners today here in the US

like Chelsea Manning, like Jeremy Hammond,

Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier,

Matulu Shakur, The Nato 5, Daniel Mcgowan,

those in exile, and those in the ground.

And I wonder what you thought 

about the brutal crackdown, beatings

mass arrests and anti protest laws 

used to shut down the occupy movement. 

Did it remind you of your youthful days

in Cape Town?

Read about the occupations there,

global simultaneous rebellions that

all nations shut down with the tyranny 

of pepper spray and rubber bullets and

tear gas and billy clubs and handcuffs 

and zip ties and paddy wagons, and 

maybe you should know know that 

non of this would’ve happened without

you, Madiba. Bredren brother warrior,

soldier of the truth of justice of peace

of love and reconciliation and freedom

for everyone everywhere,

whose heart stopped as it poured

give thanks for the time you gave

to the universe for sending you

this way,

and as your spirit slips 

and floats toward the void

and away into the gates of space

I hope your struggle for freedom sticks

in the veins and spirits of those 

who stay and try to make the world

a better place, 

as you have....