I Cultivate a White Rose
By Jose Marti
I
cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly.
And
for the cruel person who tears out
the heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose.
Folk
singer Pete Seeger adapted this poem to lyrics and music and named the song
"Guantanamera"
"We are free, but not to be evil, not to
be indifferent to human suffering, not to profit from the people, from the work
created and sustained through their spirit of political association, while
refusing to contribute to the political state that we profit from. We must say
no once more. Man is not free to watch impassively the enslavement and dishonor
of men, nor their struggles for liberty and honor."
~ Jose Marti
"...If blood will flow when flesh and steel are
one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence
and nothing ever could..."
~ Sting, Fragile