Solidarity, Солидарность, Solidarität

Shoulder to shoulder

Back to back.

The subtle feeling of someone’s steady breath

At the back of one’s neck.

These broad backs and strong shoulders

These bold minds and thriving souls

Are brought together by a drive so deeply natural

So genuine and inspiring

That it becomes contagious.

A drive to oppose inequity

To eradicate discrimination or bias

Not by shouting about it

Not by burning flags or demonizing ‘oppressors’

But by joining those who suffer from it

By letting them hang on your arm

And know they are not alone in their struggle.

Solidarity, Солидарность, Solidarität.

In every language I know

The word resonates with the same solid strength

Putting into the sounds this magnetic force

Of the true human – all too human – sympathy.

It is the unity of thousands, millions of hearts that beat like one.

They drum together, and this growing rhythm

Is bigger, louder, stronger

Than any injustice.