Who will listen to our cry
As we lie abandoned at the edge of the abyss
Our land taken
Our homes demolished
Our children hungry
We wander as outcasts from
Denuded forest to polluted sea from
Flooded slum to slave factory
Will you listen to our cry
We hear the multitude of words from
Parliament and pulpit
Barren rhetoric on the need for reform
Blessings on the poor as the chosen of God
But we are as a people cursed
Pawns in the hands of the mighty
Strangers in the house of their god
Who will echo our rage of pain
As we lift our voices in the heat of this night
Refusing to surrender to the
Wild beasts that savage us
Hamletted imprisoned interrogated
Tortured salvaged
We are discussed planned for analysed
As a problem wound lazy subversive
Leftish communist violent godless
But who will ask us what is raging in our hearts
We hear of a peace that is
Bitter ashes in our throats
We are told to be patient while our leaders
Play the harlot to our jailors
We are called to be
One Bread One Body One People while
Our bread is being consumed by others
Our bodies broken by injustice
Our rights as a people stripped from us
Till we stand in naked shame in a temple of pagans
Who will stand for us
As we raise our hands to break these chains
As we organize march barricade and demand
As we struggle for life inflamed by God’s dream
To be owned as a gift for a future that is bright
To live laugh to serve and love
To be partners of God in the creation of life
After this many of His disciples left Him
And stopped going with Him
Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them
“Will you also turn away?”
August 1987
At Left, Children from Bahay-Munti Children’s Rehabilitation Centre
