May Day May Day We're Going Down I Mean Up

Because greed has worldwide dominion
and rats grow fat where babies starve and wail

because a people craves another’s land
and goads them to rage so they can steal

because old men in banks crave solace
in the bony grip of money’s lovelied clasp

and warfare wields fullest dominion
these times of chirping texts and killer apps

because of all this thirst for death,
this necrophile’s dream... well, this is where we are

But old lords will not swell forever sleek
on blood, these chupacabras of commerce.

The rats which gnaw the corpses of children
bulldozed under rubble will not always feed

because we’re all of us entwined and bound
(when we work, when we eat, when we dream)

and layers upon layers of command
from boss to boss to master are not for all time

May Day means Help Me, so we must help each other
in any way we can, together, arms gripped tight

our clasp held tighter than those bony grasps
that grip the joystick of a drone’s control

Because we are stronger than them, their force,
their vampire lust for all our flesh and effort,

because we stretch our hands from hand to hand
across the worldwide gusts of the changing wind,

because we are together on this day, tomorrow,
and the days to come - we know that we will win

"It's not too late - things can still be less worse"

Anna Kornbluh

HAPPY MAY DAY !

¡ FELIZ DIA DEL TRABAJADOR Y TRABAJADORA !

(Illustrations by Georg Grosz)