Eradicating Illiteracy
(In the style of Walt Whitman)
O voices of the earth, rise up!
Each one, untamed, each one free, yet all together—a multitude,
We march, not in battle against flesh,
But in a war against darkness, the silent chains of the mind.
Children of the streets, workers in factories,
Mothers, fathers, the old and the young,
You shall be heard! No longer silenced by the unseen barriers,
No longer left behind by the great river of words that flows,
Let the light of learning sweep the plains, the cities, the hills.
Books for the hands of all! Not just for the chosen few.
The ink of knowledge, vast as the sea, must reach every soul,
No more will ignorance bind us,
No more will blank stares meet the beauty of language,
We build a nation with every letter learned,
With every page turned, with every voice raised in understanding.
