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Thank you for expressing this. I feel so much solidarity in your desire for peace and for quiet. But yet, the world doesn’t want us to have a quiet death. Trouble is forced upon us. I am not an African or a woman, so I can’t imagine your fear, but I’m thankful for your courage. 

And I love the defiantly peaceful act of just planting a tree. Please plant more.

Oh my dearest speaker, my heart hears you. Your every word touches my soul. I feel your longing, your despair.  But at the end, I feel hope. For I, too, plant trees.

To give up on dreams of personal peace, that is when you know you're truly fighting.

Loved it, it's got that uncompromising pessimistic spirit that is the grounds for any uncompromising revolution!

I want to die quietly

with a soft exhale after a long life lived

a breeze will rustle the leaves of the trees I planted 

they will know I am at peace

how can I reach the end I want

when the life I have is shouting yelling screaming

If I die discarded to save the foreign fruit of my womb

I will not rest in peace

If I die bleeding from the barrel of a stranger’s gun

I will not rest in peace

If I die crushed at the feet of an officer

I will not rest in peace

If I die starved for health my wealth could not buy

I will not rest in peace

If I die asphyxiated by the fumes of climate inaction

I will not rest in peace

If I die strangled by the fist of misogyny

I will not rest in peace

I want to die quietly

with a final soft exhale after a long life lived

how can I reach the end I want

when the life I have is shouting yelling screaming

I cannot rest at all

I can only plant trees

\-american woman

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[1](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/vjxvto/comment/idq343j/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x&amp;context=3), [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/vkio8b/comment/idq41cg/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x&amp;context=3)

Cause of Death