Resistance Song

 

My life as I once knew it was demanding and painful

My life now has become even worse

Behind the bars I lay and weep, for now I am a prisoner of apartheid

My family could be happy, or they could be dead

I will not know until I become free

Free as Nelson Mandela

Oh why must this be, why must this be

I haven’t done anything to anybody

I have done no wrongs, no trouble have I caused

But yet I am here in a cold, sinister jail cell, alone

I am miserable

I am furious

I am bitter

Constructively I planned a good life for my family, and myself

But because we are of another race, this cannot be

To seek revenge is to die happily

I yearn for the ability to see my family

Watch them play

Watch them eat

Watch them live

But perhaps what I cannot see I can imagine better

Silence floods the confinement

And I can only hear the beat of my own heart

As long as I have that I have courage

I am tired

I am hurt

I am depressed

My struggle is that of many men my age and even younger

I shiver when I imagine a young man being ripped away from his new family

The pain engulfs my body and I break down in tears

Biko would comfort all of us during this crisis

But he has no power to help anymore

I want him

I see them

Here they come

I am avenged

 

                        Jake Belmont 6-10-01