No One

When will we recognize
When one is not free
Then no one is free?

If we allow masters;
If there’s even one slave
We’ll all be enslaved.

When there’s not justice for one
Hear the call!
There’s no justice for all.

If we don’t realize the pain
In another one’s life
There will always be strife.

If we accept anyone’s foot
To keep anyone down
No one gets off the ground.

If we don’t stop war
Here and abroad
Then the word peace is just a fraud.

If good from evil 
We cannot tell
Then all of us will be in Hell.

Get off right now —
You’re on the wrong bus
If you think it can’t happen to us.

Continue to try
Though unsure how you feel
Let’s work together toward the ideal.

Read more by Ada Mark Strausberg.