Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

I do all these nasty things,
Hurt myself, the Spirit; and think it's cool,
I revel in delights of this world,
Swim in the stank depths of useless mess;

I break your laws,
Everytime I open my mouth,
The same whenever I step outside the door,
And keep going at it,
Like a raving lunatic;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

My eyes are open but do not see,
My ears are wide but do not hear,
I am not dumb but never speak love,
I am not lame but never walk in righteousness;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

The Spirit awakens me,
Takes me down the narrow path of redemption,
Tells me there's hope for me yet,
If, only, I accept, His goodly hand!

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you;

Don't let me go,
Oh, my Lord,
Don't let me go,
Dear Lord, I cling to you!

I will cling to hope                                                                                                                                                                                
As I clung to the picture of you approaching over the horizon                                                                                                                                            
I will cling to hope                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       As I clung to your mother’s hand with you kicking your way into life
I will cling to hope                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       As I clung to silent sleep on wooden benches waiting in a corridor                                                                                            
I will cling to hope                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      As I clung to your crib and your mothers peaceful sleep of bearing a son unto the world                                                                      
I will cling to hope                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I will cling to pictures of you smiling as I cling to the shade protecting you from the rays                                                              
I will cling to hope                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Watching another dawn for you of the Highveld sun      
Watching you toss and turn as if your dreams are mine and to this hope you clinging too.

I will cling to hope as I cling to you.          

W.Arends

Cling, Cling, Bam, Bam,
I squeeze my body into the rectangular car

Cling, Cling, Bam, Bam,
I can’t even breathe anymore
I have no where to escape.

Cling, Cling, Bam, Bam,
Cling, Cling, Bam, Bam,
I roll over my eyes
to the right
to the left
to the top
to the bottom

And still
I have no where to runaway.

…………….

No one speaks
No one moves
Not even the rectangular car that
has been absorbing itself into the labyrinth
the endless labyrinth

And I am thinking to myself

surrounded by complete strangers
smelling a white boy’s greasy blond hair that stuck in front of my face
feeling a Hispanic woman staring at me frowning
hearing a Black boy’s loud music screaming out of his I-pod
looking at an Asian woman’s New York Times
across the shoulder of an European guy who has been napping and snoring
reading the back page of the paper as she’s reading the front page, what is going on in this world

What am I doing here?

Abandoning all the sweet comforts in my home
studying other’s language
forgetting my language
appreciating other’s culture
ignoring my culture

And still

Feeling insecure, inferior and alone
and struggling, struggling and struggling.

What am I doing here?
Why am I here?
Why does my heart ache?

Cling, Cling, Bam, Bam,
Cling, Cling, Bam, Bam,

The rectangular car starts to march into the labyrinth again

And I,
I, too, march into the labyrinth
disguising myself as if I am one of them
pretending nothing happened in my mind
and again, hoping that I will become successful
here
one day

and starting my day again

As if I am one of them.