Mother Run, Father seek refuge, Child be still lest they hear and kill you
There! There!-Listen
Sounds of cockroaches, they say
Find, Catch, Kill
Use Knife, Rifle or Machete
Kill all Tutsi blood
Mother, Father, Child
Mother Run, Father seek refuge, Child cries what wrong have we done
What sin have we committed?
Oh! Won’t you spare us
We promise not to be tutsi anymore
We promise to be good
We will change our skin colour
We no longer will be light
We will even grow short
Just like Hutus
Spare us, Spare us
God save us
Love protect us
World hear us
Rhwanda spare us
Mother Run, Father seek refuge, Child be still lest they hear and kill you
Neighbours kill neighbours
Friends kill friends
Streets flow of blood
Blood of you and I
I and you
Tutsi and Hutu
Hutu and Tutsi
Lying bare in the streets of Rwanda
Lies bodies of unloved and forgotten
Men, and women, aunts and uncles, cousin and…
me
As I lie on the dusty ground
Feeling the rays of the scorching sun
I yell for
Mother to Run, Father to seek refuge, Child to keep still lest they hear and kill her
© Somi Msomi
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Matriculant 2009
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