Madiba

I found peace at the close of day

In his own words this is what he said


Together we walked side by side

on the long road to freedom


We shared the joy of living

and together we savoured

the sweet taste of freedom


The last time I saw him alive

he had become an old man

weak and helpless

reduced to a shadow

of his former self

and now

the inevitable

has happened


I don't consider that he was my friend

He was my elder brother


Dear Madiba you had

abundant reserves of love and tolerance

such a firm belief in justice and equality

that could not be shaken

and continually you served

as a source of enormous strength

for many people around the world


But now I have lost you

my life is a void


I don't know who to turn to

in the solstice of my life


Winter solstice comes early

on the twenty first


Well we're not quite

there yet then are we ?


Every day is getting shorter


Golden days of winter light


Silver clouds in golden light

giving hope for years to come

beneath the setting of the sun

On Washington They're Marching

On Washington they're marching

with Martin Luther King

and Bobby Dylan's singing

It's 1963


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


Who was the assassin ?

Who killed the Kennedys ?

Who's fighting for the rights

of people bound in slavery ?


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


Malcolm X in Mecca

The nation was a fetter

He sees black and white

together pray in technicolour


Haile Selassie

Rastas smoking sensi


From Marcus Garvey to Bob Marley

and Peter Tosh - he's dangerous


The Black Man can be free


Is getting high the only way

the Black Man can be free ?


Ask Gil Scott-Heron

is the revolution here ?


And if it was

then would he care

when Whitey's on the Moon

but the Black Man's still not free ?


And now we see Barack Obama

driving in a Hummer


Nelson Mandela

South Africa rebeller

The ANC will tell ya

He's a jolly good fella


Steven Biko died for this

One day we'll live in peace


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


On Washington they're marching

with Martin Luther King

and Bobby Dylan's singing

It's 1963


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free

When White Men Came

When white men came onto our land

they burnt down our homes

We had to run for our lives

to escape from the slave traders

They shoot us with their guns

'cos they despise us and they hate us

and they want to use us

as cheap labour

for their business

When they've caught us

they transport us

in ships and then they sell us

in the market at the station

to work on a plantation ...

They rape our women

and they lynch us

and then they

try to teach us

bible stories

it's outrageous ...

to say that

God was on their side

Love the Music - Hate Racism

The slave trade was the
basis of the world economy
to keep the lifestyle of the rich
supplied with luxury 

Fortunes could be made
trading in commodities
cotton tobacco sugar
coffee and tea 

Clarkson and Wilberforce campaigned
to have it banned - they said the black
man was the white man's burden
Can you understand ? 

The USA's a country
where the biggest is the best
You'll find the KKK logo
on a pack of cigarettes 

The white supremacists wear
pointed hats and join the dance
Griffiths made a film about them
called "Intolerance" 

In the UK today
there's prejudice and bigotry
racial discrimination
and inequality 

Police use stop and search
to victimise minorities
That's how they start the
Brixton riots in the 1980s 

So ask Mrs. Lawrence
how long she had to wait
to have her day in court
It came nineteen years too late 

Read "How to Kill a Mocking Bird"
Yes justice must be done
Tell me how did O. J. Simpson
get away with murder number one ? 

'Cos if he's rich and famous
then a black man can be free
But the poor are still exploited
Look around you and you'll see 

Give Peace a Chance

-1-

Hello everybody !
Thank you very much for coming !
We've got a song to sing for you
with music and some drumming

I can see one or two faces
in the crowd I recognise
It's good to see you here today !
It's a nice surprise !

-

Now we've got a lot to do
We've got to tell everyone
We can't win when we are fighting
a war that can't be won

So thank you for coming
and supporting our cause
Let's get down to business
to stop the war !

-

All we are saying
is give peace a chance

All we are saying
is give peace a chance


-2-

Is this cruelty and violence
what we're fighting for
producing and consuming
the instruments of war ?

Why can't we just try making
our lives a little better ?
Why do we have to fight ?
Why can't we just agree to differ ?

-

To provide the goods and services
that people really need ?
There are so many of us
many mouths we have to feed

This life is full of struggle
Yes this life is very hard
It seems the most aggressive player
always holds the winning card

-

All we are saying
is give peace a chance

All we are saying
is give peace a chance


-3-

The problem that we have
when we campaign for peace is this
We don't know how to explain
how could a peaceful world exist

If we looked into our hearts
perhaps then we could learn
Peace can only be established
on someone else's terms

-

All this talk about security
You know I think it's bogus
We're scared of death and they use that
to bully and control us

Your language and education
is conditioning your thought
if you can't think for yourself
and question what you're taught

-

All we are saying
is give peace a chance

All we are saying
is give peace a chance


-4-

My gift is an affliction
a disorder in my brain
Ideas go round in my head
and drive me half insane

A genetic disposition
to make too much dopamine
flow in the composition
of a chemical machine

-

The doctor gives me medicine
which I take from time to time
when this mental agitation
has no rhythm and no rhyme

Then I try to get some rest
and so I go to bed
One day I pray I'll rest in peace
forever when I'm dead

-

All we are saying
is give peace a chance

All we are saying
is give peace a chance

Requiem for the Masses

Admiring from a distance
achievements of the great and good
unending daily service
of steady dull
obligatory labour

Unaware of the rising stench
of rotting corpses
waiting for burial or cremation
creatures born of ignorance
prejudice and bigotry
and violence
injustice against women
pornography
murder and rape

What's wrong with me ?

How can I be so callous
indifferent to their suffering and pain ?

By turns my heart is filled with poison
one kind after another

Jealousy and envy

Hatred and distaste

Who would be my teacher ?
Who would be their friend ?

Who will press tender lips
onto the furrowed brow
of the dying and the maimed
and turn their head
to hear at last
the dying words
of starving children ?

What can they say ?

How can you justify
the ways of God to man ?

We want to be free
to do what we want to do

Restore your forgiveness
and mercy unto me

We want to be free
to cry out fire
in a crowded theatre

What do you want ?
What do you want from me ?

Surely freedom
is doing what you have to do
without a heavy heart

You will be judged
and weighed in the balance

Save their souls

Free them forever
from this tyranny

I am beginning to forget their faces

To the dreamers
self deceivers

Be careful what you dream
Sometimes your dreams come true

You've made your bed
so lie in it

There's nothing else to do

Put out the light
Curl up tight

Put all your cares behind you
No one's gonna ask you now
How can you sleep at night ?

When reason sleeps
monsters keep
an evil eye on dreamers
to catch their dreams
and make their meaning
clear to non believers

To the poets and believers

They say
Nothing's new under the sun

We say prayers over the dead

Every sentence in my head
someone else has said

There's nothing you can say
that can't be said in prose

Nothing that you say
can't be better said
in prose

Anything
a poem or a lyric or a verse can say
can always be rewritten
and said much better
in plain English

Better in the sense
of being clearer
in its meaning
and intent

But also we know
that something's lost
in the translation

Only when words have rhyme and rhythm
can they be mnemonic
wonderful evocative bewitching

Confusing or concise
carry a tune
and make a
thought or feeling
easy to remember

When we are never seen again

When we have gone away

Will we be loved ?
Will we be missed ?

Will you perhaps remember us
for what we did ?

But forget the reason why ?

Then let a poet speak
and let him sing

Let him have the final say

The last words of the eternal optimist
Remember them

This isn't how I die

Don't let your dreams belong to anyone
Don't let your dreams come true

Keep believing in the possibility
of things yet to come

You can't change the world
but the world is ever changing

Don't ask science
to explain the meaning
of everything to you

If it does
you know it lies
and lies are better than the truth

And that's a lie

The truth is very simple

I know I am alive
and life must go on

I know they are dead but I'm alive
and life must go on

Appearance is deceptive
and beauty is a lie

The truth is an ugly truth
you don't need to know

That is all you need to know

All you need to know

That's all you know
and all you need to know

That is all you need to know

O coiner of phrases
Will you ever be forgiven ?

Can you speak truth to power
and justify the ways of God to man ?

See the Fair Lady

See the fair Lady of the Lake
How patiently she waits
until that moment
when suddenly she lifts her hand
and without a sound
takes hold of the sword
flying through the misty air
over the surface of the water

Who was it ?
Who has thrown the sword
through the mist into the lake ?

It is you !
Yes here you are !
We see you standing by the shore
an expression on your face
of awe and wonder
In your eyes are tears
for the friends that you have lost
and the times you spent together
which will never come again

Guinevere and Lancelot
and the noble knights of the round table
and the battles that you fought
in the mountains and on the plains
to secure your kingdom
How could we let you forget them ?
And of course the questing for the Grail

But who are we
who observe your lonely figure
looking out over the lake ?

The sword blade pointing upwards
slowly descends into the depths
Unseen cold in darkness
there it lays
Let it lie there now and forever
with the Lady of the Lake

We are the children of your nation
the true descendants of your race
who were told of you in stories
a legend to admire
inspiring us to answer
the question of the ages
and giving us the power
to bring you back to life once more
in our imagination
and to hold you here
and hail you as our King
Arthur
prophet of poetic vision
master builder of the myth of Britain

Return to your castle
Camelot is safe
Your work is done

-

Yes you who knew
how to forge the metal from the stone
You knew it well before the hour
and still have not forgot
the riddle of the autumn flower
the key that fits the lock
that you might one day
ride out from your tower
to meet the Lady of the Lake

Everywhere you looked for her
In every place you sought
to find her waiting there
You dared to dream of her at night
that when the bloody battle
for your kingdom has been fought
when friend and foe alike
have fallen slaughtered in the fight
then you alone would be left standing
with both hands holding the sword
Excaliber
made magically
from metal made from stone
with knowledge passed down to you
by men of wisdom and tradition

You would lift up that sword
and with a roar proclaim your victory
and promise to restore Excaliber to her
where it should rightfully belong
Your strength was only lent to you
for faithful service to the strong

Her power and dominion
over science in war and peace
her tranquility and her reason
is the subject of our song

Like fruit out of season
this ancient story we relate
tastes sweet to men devoted
to the Lady of the Lake

Her patience is eternal
In our dreams she never sleeps
She loves us from a distance
forever out of reach
She is not real but still we feel
we owe her thanks in deed
The blessing of the Fairy Queen
will give us everything we need

For when we have both laughed
and cried in equal measure
satisfied our hearts' desire
with pleasure and with pain
at last we find
our time is spent
looking for an ending
in songs of joy and sad lament