SLAVES

We sit at our desks
Toil at the coal face,
Bleed and die in conflicts
As long as we know our place.

We have pride, we have honour
But our leaders don't care,
We are all slaves to their whims
We never get a true share.

They fill our lives with promises
But truly, it's just pie in the sky,
Who cares about colour of skin
We all rot the same when we die.

I cut you and you bleed red
Cut me deep I end up dead,
Things like this they want left unsaid
We're slaves, get it into your head.

When the Moors sold the first black flesh
And the filthy slave ships carried them away,
Petty white thieves fared no better
Sent across the globe to colonise, a debt to repay.

Disease, death and the stripe of the lash
Black and white brothers shed blood and tears,
No rights, no dignity, no respect
Our ancestors shared the same fears.

Still today the same song is sung
The world offers crumbs to the masses,
We're still slaves to wealth and power
Obedience is taught in the classes.

Know your place slave
Make sure your family knows too,
Your colour means nothing to them
Black or white, you're under their shoe.

So fellow slave, we're all the same
Black or white we're equals  to God above,
I'll shake your hand, I'll help you
As slaves we can show each other love.

Phil Hall  September 2013