(Defend Julian Assange) Gabriel Assange Wants To Count! ©2020 by Alice Walker

(Defend Julian Assange)

Gabriel Assange Wants To Count!
©2020 by Alice Walker

When Gabriel Assange grows up
I want him to know
that I was thinking of him
on his first visit to see his father
in prison;
that I was moved to realize
his big gift to his father
was that, since he last saw him,
he had learned to count!
Was it to ten, to twenty, to thirty-five?
Was it the number of days, weeks, months,
since his father smiled on him?
We used to do everything,
even offer ourselves to cruel masters,
to stay with even one member
of our family,
as we were being sold.
The pleading even now
I sometimes feel
in my dreams.
Gabriel, small warrior,
you will have to be brave
and of strong heart
to comprehend
this same cruelty, and its long history.
They want to make you think
that you don’t count at all.
I can tell you they have failed
to convince hearts
that always knew
And know to this day
That this is not so.

***

(Defend Julian Assange)

¡GABRIEL ASSANGE QUIERE CONTAR!

Cuando Gabriel Assange crezca
quiero que él sepa
que yo estaba pensando en él
en su primera visita para ver a su padre
en la prisión;
que me conmovió darme cuenta de
que su gran obsequio para el padre
era que, desde que lo viera la última vez,
¡había aprendido a contar!
¿Contaba hasta diez, hasta veinte, hasta treinticinco?
¿Contaba el número de días, semanas, meses,
desde que su padre le sonriera?
Nosotros soliamos hacer de todo,
Incluso ofrecernos nosotras mismas a los crueles amos,
para quedarnos aunque fuese con un miembro
de nuestra familia,
mientras nos vendían.
La súplica que incluso ahora
a veces siento
en mis sueños.
Gabriel, pequeño guerrero,
tendrás que ser valiente
y de fuerte corazón
para comprender
esta misma crueldad, y su larga historia.
Quieren hacerte pensar
que no cuentas para nada.
Puedo decirte que han fracasado
en convencer corazones
que siempre supieron
y saben hasta el día de hoy
que esto no es cierto.