Transcribed from a talk by
Howard Zinn (click to listen), which Zinn concluded with the
following poem and this introduction to it:
"Daniel Berrigan..wrote this poem And the Risen Bread, after a
friend of his, Mitchel Snyder, who worked for the homeless in
Washington, for years and years, Michel Snyder, became despondent, as
anybody might become despondent, working for the homeless, and seeing
the callousness of the government in relation to people without
homes, and he became despondent and took his life, you see, and Dan
Berrigan wrote this poem in memory, in loving memory, of Mitchel
Snyder."
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Some stood up once, and sat down
Some walked a mile, and walked away
Some stood up twice, then sat down,
"I've had it" they said,
Some walked two miles,
then walked away
"It's too much," they cried.
Some stood and stood and stood
They were taken for fools
They were taken for being taken in
Some walked and walked and walked
They walked the earth,
They walked the waters,
They walked the air
"Why do you stand," they were asked,
"and why do you walk?"
"Because of the children," they said,
"And because of the heart,
"And because of the bread,"
"Because the cause is the heart's beat,
And the children born
And the risen bread"