Parts of a poem by Guatemalan poet Julia Esquivel called “They Have Threatened Us With Resurrection.” Written originally about the civil war where those with power wished to destroy the indigenous Mayan populations and take away their lives in all forms. This in many ways echoes the struggles that are happening the world over as we fight for what is good for all and not just for ourselves.

They have threatened us with Resurrection
Because we have felt their inert bodies,
and their souls penetrated ours
doubly fortified,
because in this marathon of Hope,
there are always others to relieve us
who carry the strength
to reach the finish line
which lies beyond death.

They have threatened us with Resurrection
because they are more alive than ever before,
because they transform our agonies
and fertilize our struggle,
because they pick us up when we fall,
because they loom like giants
before the crazed gorillas’ fear.

They have threatened us with Resurrection,
because they do not know life (poor things!).

That is the whirlwind
which does not let us sleep,
the reason why while sleeping, we keep watch,
and while awake, we dream.

It is the internal cyclone of kaleidoscopic struggle
which will heal that wound of the quetzal
fallen in Ixcan,
it is the earthquake soon to come
that will shake the world
and put everything in its place.

Join us in this vigil
and you will know what it is to dream!
Then you will know how marvelous it is
to live threatened with Resurrection!

To dream awake,
to keep watch asleep,
to live while dying,
and to know ourselves already
resurrected!