HEY, I AM JUST LIKE YOU!

It is not the colour of my skin,
But the longing of my soul:
It hopes to find safety and happiness in your fold!
It's not the tone of my voice,
But the melancholy of a child of the Earth
Whose song about life has been pitched
By the rugged, incessant visits of misfortune and hardship!
It is not the hair on my head,
But the fear of death
That has ravaged the lands I once called home to foment its might
Among the ranks and file of our diabolical tyrants
Who've pledged to not rest until the whole world submit to their whims!
It is not the colour of my eyes,
But the dreadful and shameful things they have witnessed
Men do unto their kinds whilst our reactions are nothing but a pretentious guise!
No! It is not the way I perceived the gods and their ways,
But the way we've hold unto the one thing we called our home!
Blinded by greed and ignorance while we plunder its riches
We just can't seem to understand there is no good end to our selfish wishes!
No, I haven't risked my life crossing the dessert and seas
To come steal your jobs and denote a bomb in New Year Eves!
How I wish you could understand that
I am just like you!
A child of the universe who wish to cling unto the Earth until a little bit longer!
Please give me a helping hand

Let me take another grasp of breath!

© Amadu Wurie Jalloh
®SAWN

(Photo Credit: anonymous)