THE RITE OF XENOPHOBIA

Once we were under alien rule
Being forced by fear of the teeth of the gun
To do what could not be done yet silent like the night
Then we thought that humans were demons 
Their color we thought was a mistake from creation 
When men and women were in chains starving like paupers 
Taken from their homes to a land of the dead alive
When dreams became battlefields fighting for survival for freedom 
When a man could look at his son and recognize him not
When children became sheep lost in the fields confused yet innocent 

That is when their trademarks were like the art of a tree full of branches on their backs 
That decorated their human body the temple of God
Yes I know like a disease they felt pain no more 
Having undergone the time of change in body and soul 
They chose the noble decision of wise men 
Never to rise against those who made them see the goodness of endurance 
A slave learns the tongue of his master and so they did
They knew their dream will never die they knew time will surely pass
They have a root planted deep in the veins awaiting rainfall 
That a stream has a mother and to it, they flow freely

To one who put to breastfeeding the child learns her name the beginning of wisdom 
Africans have gone through hell and back 
Their vouchers are the long printed scares behind and deep in their hearts 
Then they passed out of training. came home with zeal and purpose to mother Africa 
They once toiled in these streets, crying and carrying loads
For the masters comfort while my brothers fall hard and never wake
Now they have a responsibility 
To wash the land of the innocent blood of the fathers of sorrow
The oceans of sweat visible at a glance 
And rebuild and repaint the walls of our fathers

But now their own offspring, the heirs to the throne of the land of South Africa
Have become the reincarnated nightmare of old 
Only this time in our own color and to our own brothers and sisters 
To accomplish the task of long ago when our fathers suffered under an alien invasion 
And now I wonder and my bones tremble 
If they are back from the dead, 
Where else can mankind go?
What a pathetic end ours will be O Africa 
Save us O our fathers from our brothers in this xenophobic era

(c) Amoak Derrick 2017