The good ones
who listen
to women
to children and the poor
die too soon,
their lives bedeviled
by opposition:
our hearts grieve for them.
This was the world my father knew.
A poor man
he saw good men come and mostly go;
leaving behind
the stranded and bereft.
People of hopes, dreams, and so much
hard work!
Yearning for a future
suddenly
foreclosed.
But today
you write me all is well
even though the admirable
Hugo Chavez
has died this afternoon.
Never again will we hear that voice
of reasoned anger
and disgust
of passionate vision
and of triumph.
This is true.
But what a lot he did in his 58 years!
You say.
What a mighty ruckus
Hugo Chavez made!
This is also true.
Thank you for reminding me.
That though life -
this never-ending loop -
has passed us by today
but carried off
in death
a hero
of the masses
it is his spirit
of fiercely outspoken
cariño
that is not lost.
That inheritance
has gone instantly
into the people
to whom he listened
and it is there
that we will expect it
to rise
as early as
tomorrow;
and there
that
we will encounter it
always
soon again.
http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2013/03/poem-the-good-ones-for-hugo-chavez/