DROUGHT

Seeds of water
drip on panes of glass
finding their roots
amongst the droughts of days

Slipping straight thru
to places we have been
me and you
drip-drying our roots

There we discover the seeds
alas no shoots
dry as silence to the air
I stand tall and ready, are you?

Time is a restless emotion
That gets tangled at night
In those flickers between the darkness
And the steps toward a dawning light

Each step is a lifetime
Each breath is death
Before its time

Time is a restless emotion
That turns a dream into light
It is the flickers that drown the darkness
And your love my journey from dawn till night

Ho ho, ha ha

Land of sweet lime and chilli
raise dust to smile the sunset
Dance in hot colours of thali
till the hard bed we meet

Light switches send dreams to giant billboards
As we slumber, as we sleep
So the darkness of wealth and poverty
becomes a night of broken clay chai cups

Strewn along the railroad tracks
and reading like clearing throats
Deep sounds as the crowd leaves us
to sift like children, the rubbish dumps of life

We wake to trimmed moustaches
blaring horns as we attempt escape
But the cow knows us in every town
So we move aside, we bow down

There we sit under an enlightened tree
and wish like money thrown into rivers
That we may pay so to keep
the dust that chases our feet

Land of sweet lime and chilly
shake your head in agreement
This is indeed a land of metta
So bitter and so sweet

A ticking behind my eyes
A timebomb with vision
Or days passing me by
One after One

we bend but don't move
sometimes our branches meet
we creak and groan
and when we break
a new generation is born
beneath our feet

Our love was a car crash
So we wrapped it around a tree
Me 4 U
U 4 Me

To be good

Life just leave me alone
To get on and become
Like pebbles made smooth by the sea
Or Earth warming the soles of feet
I must extend my reach

If I survive the dips and dives of these days
I will be on my way
To save you with my problems
Join me, I am too far gone
Together as one, lost to each other
Surviving the dips and dives of these days

Dear people of this Earth
Mimi ni mzungu
You can hear it in my voice
Mimi ni mwanamme
You can hear it in the way I talk
Every light has a shadow, every shadow has a light
Now listen...

These are the voices of the ancestors
In the form of music and rhythm
We do not understand the words but we understand their meaning
Deep down in a place that dances
A place where it echoes our birth beyond time
We were one, now listen...

We are expanding and moving
Just as with time
What I see is a beast
You may say is only human
Ndio mimi ni mshamba, mkorofi, mwizi
Ninazunguka kama mzungu nabaki bila kuhama
I will take my space like land, napanda maharagwe na sukuma
With you, na wewe tu.

Lakini kuna mengi
Swali langu ni moja tu
Which one do I hurt first
Ignorance or compassion?
Which one has survived the longest?
In deed or action

Cheza cheza
Play with my thoughts and emotions
Blow this beast a kiss
Mzungu na mwanamme
Like the smell of soil on my hands
You are under my nails woman, I can hear you
My palms bear the fruits of your labour
With you, na wewe tu
Now listen...

Wewe ni Mwafrika
I can see it in your rhythm
Wewe in mwanamke
I can see it in your thoughts
And the shape of your actions
Sasa cheza cheza
Dance with my thoughts and emotions

Dance with the two face
Sing with the voice and vision
The speed of light and sound
Will bring us back from the edge
Of oblivion, Now listen...

Mimi ni mzungu, nyinyi ni waafrika, people of this Earth
And we wish to be disowned
So that we may be owned again
On a trip to our roots, to wander without moving
Insh’allah, Mungu akipenda, Jah Rastafari!
Every light has a shadow, every shadow has a light
Now listen...

Is the Sun going up
or are we going down?
Pieces of darkness cut
Into the silence of this town

Are we going up?
On this quiet corner
me and you holding hands
As the Sun goes down

I have a love
I have a lover
One does not respect the other

That what one does with its hands
The other does with its heart
They feel each other inside out

I am lost to my lover
I am in love with another
One does not respect the other

I felt your strain, I looked up
As you pushed past me
Carrying a beast on your shoulders
While I sat packing my bags for a trip

I left on a plane and a sunset
As you wept and I followed your sweat
Until I got a glimpse of you, within sight and distance
And for a second you looked back, then up

That second was a lifetime
And everything held within
Death, Birth, Pure and Sin
But we saw we other, at least a glimpse

Let the truth be told!
Our eyes met and I followed your sweat
You shouldered your beast, I packed my bags for a trip
We escaped this life, but what about the next?

Something’s broke
Don’t know how to fix it
So we break it again
And reset it

Like bones shattered
Or good people
Looking for love and only finding trouble
Something’s broke

I am the one to find it
Good people don’t look for love in me
I will break it again
And you will be left to reset it

I see you
You don’t believe it
I feel you
You don’t know it
I smell you
You don’t conceive it
I touch you
You don’t feel it
I’m it

Women in my life
Women of this Earth
I bow down before thee
And give you your worth

To walk the distance
To beat your chests
To drain your body for your children
As well as those manly pests

To stand on street corners
Under neon lights
To collect fire wood
And cook under cool nights

Women in my life
Women of this Earth
I bow down before thee
And give you your worth

I am bound by the pain
And the pride of this land
A sorrow I hold in the palm of my hand
It links me to my birth

In a place of dust and dirt
In a place of birth and death
I follow my ancestors
As they show me life in shadows

It is where I belong
Voices and visions and rhythms
They are coming out of me
And you shall share them

Like hands touching while sharing food
Or bodies brushing in dance
We are bound brothers and sisters
In this place of dust and dirt

You could see history in the lines of her eyes
Her children in the shape of her breasts
Burden of the earth on the soles of their feet
Her beads tell me a story, one which I shall keep

A time where her father’s wishes came true
A time where there was water and food
Only to be filled with dust and heat
Across vast distances of time and space

Now we stand face to face, I follow her journey
Filled with pride and sorrow as I hold her hand
And study the burden of the earth on the soles of her feet
Her beads tell me a story, one for each day, one which I shall keep

I have seen the many faces of God
All I know is that I have been here before
Drank your streams and tasted your dirt
It is there under my fingernails
A reminder that we are immortal
As different forms within this Universe
As faces of God throughout time

Brought kicking and screaming into this world
Oh how I hate you dearest friend
For what you represent, your white skin
Now you haunt me

I scream with fear into this racist world
Oh how I love you dearest friend
For what you represent, black and blue
Now I haunt myself

We wish for us both life and death
That we should make a promise to each other
That you may hate me as much as I love you
And together kicking and screaming we may find a way back in

There is a wilderness
Beyond the horizon
Further than I can see

A place of danger and deceit
A place of joy and rapture
A place where men may walk on their feet

There is a wilderness
Beyond thought and vision
Deep, deep inside me

May I wander with you
Through darkness and light
So that only love shall remain