BABIES DON’T HAVE NATIONS

Babies don’t have nations
I felt this for the first time far from my homeland
Babies don’t have nations
The way they hold their heads is the same
They gaze with the same curiosity in their eyes
When they cry, the tone of their voices is the same

Babies are the blossoms of humankind
Of roses the most pure, most the buds of roses
Some are fair fragments of light
Some are dusky-dark grapes

Fathers, do not let them slip your minds
Mothers, protect your babies
Silence them, silence them, don’t let them speak
Who would talk of war and destruction

Let us leave them to grow up with passion
May they sprout and burgeon like saplings
They are not yours, nor mine, nor anybody’s
They belong to the whole world
They are the apple of all humanity’s eye

I felt this for the first time far from my homeland
Babies don’t have nations
Babies are the blossoms of humankind
And our future’s one and only hope