Terrorism, Her Name Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

And they do their best
to give voice to their hate:
hate and revenge against
Imperialism of the West,
hate and revenge against
religions with their mission,
hate against any form of
discrimination and segregation,
hate against what is conceived
as long term human oppression.

And these voices are heard
over parks, markets, land and seas,
in suicide bombs and kidnappings
of foreign and local interests;
seen in secret training camps
for fighters and defenders of the voice,
seen in the sacred mountains
of silent and boiling countries.

And these voices are further
heard in the flowing blood
of the innocents spread in fields,
roads and bridges, seen in
shattered homes and ruined hopes.
And the helpless, who stand terrified
by this madness, call these voices
the rising tide of terrorism.