(原則) Danz Smith
不要問你的國家能為你做什麼
該問你的國家是不是你的
該問你的國家屬不屬於人民
該問你的國家是否嗜血成性
該問你的國家是不是石油大亨與掌權者的好朋友
如果屍體代表了你的國家還能繼續以老方式過日子
該問你的國家有沒有在夜裡因為渴求屍體發顫
如果民主緊的像嵌在頸上的鍊子
該問你的國家是不是建立在偷來的島或偷來的喘息時光上
如果別處有人正將女兒下葬
該問你是否覺得舒服
如果附近有人死去只因警察把他誤認為槍
該問你是否覺得舒服
如果城鎮的另一邊是破產的學校與食物的荒漠
該問你是否覺得舒服
如果你新租的公寓從前屬於
那個沒有錢打扮得像你一樣的人
該問你自己是否覺得上面害怕承認的事
都是往那棕色孩子喉裡傾倒的廢土
ask not what your country can do for you
ask if your country is your country
ask if your country belongs to your country folk
ask if your country is addicted to blood
ask if your country is addicted to forgetting
ask if your country is an oil & power fiend
ask if your country shakes at night starving
for bodies if bodies mean your country
keeps on being your country in the same ol’ ways
ask if your country was built of stolen land
and stolen breath, if democracy is a chain
tight as skin around your neck
ask if your comfort means elsewhere
someone is burying a daughter
ask if your comfort means round
the corner a man is dead cause a cop
mistook his body for a gun
ask if your comfort means broke schools
& food deserts on the other side of town
ask if your new apartment used to belong
to someone who couldn’t afford to look
like you, ask yourself if all the things
you are scared to admit are shovels
slowly filling up a brown boy’s throat
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註 : 此為詩第一部分 原詩很長共五部分
作者網站上的原詩
http://www.danezsmithpoet.com/a-poem-principles/