God Bless You

God Bless You Before me lay the Dust of us all Treated by us all as an orphaned babe The sun scalded my tan You, you gathered under layers of clothes - the difference and similarity of us both Yet the Tugela rages, the Vaal turns; they run as bold as ever And, as the land spoke sweetly And, as the Berg stood firmly And, as the Indian met the Atlantic in dance – in harmony, in a song choired breathe – Arms twisted taut We scarred the pulse that moves us on The father threw the gold at his feet jumping on it, unfettered and drunk The Earth’s reclaim now and her child’s shame Now as the rains fall we hold tight To gather the orphan To gather the Dust To gather as one Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika