Elegy to Tears | Federico Arcos

Tears
have no frontiers;
carry no passport;
nor require a visa.
Tears
are international;
as affection,
tenderness,
love.
Tears
have no fatherland;
they are universal.
Tears
is the man;
is the woman,
—the mother—,
is the child.
To suffer
is what is human
and human is the people.
To suffer is the flesh
rendered from the people
which raises a moan
and sheds tears.
And the people are here;
and in the antipode,
in the septentrion,
in the capricorn.
The people are
everywhere,
because to suffer
is the people;
people, of the peoples
which cover the Earth.
This. Earth
that was taken
from the people;
that was taken
from the man;
the woman,
—the mother—,
the child.
This Earth
which must be
reconquered
because it belongs to us.
Make it ours
Ours. Everyone’s.
Without borders
and without fatherlands.
And, thus put an end
to suffering
and put an end
to tears.

Federico Arcos (July 18, 1920-May 23, 2015), a lifelong anarchist, participated in the Spanish Revolution and Civil War in the 1930s, and later took part in the antifascist underground there. He immigrated to Canada in 1952, where he continued his commitment to anarchist goals. He eventually compiled an extensive archive of anarchist writings and other material.