I stood where things are worth fighting for
I fought until there was no more
I stood where hunger controlled the earth
I stood when a mother was giving birth
I stood where there was racism to be found
I stood- I held my ground
I stood where there was poverty and pain
I stood- and my heart will never be the same
I stood - when I found true love
I stood- because it came from above
I stood - on the unemployment lines
I stood-and didn’t ask for a dime
I stood - when everything around me was falling apart
I stood-because he gave me a heart
I stood- when there was no place to go
I stood- when there was little to show

Now I stand here to meet my maker
I am ready for the undertaker
I stand here on my judgment day
But before I stood I began to pray

LORD ! I feel I’ve stood up for
all the injustices in life
I’ve tried to change the wrongs to right
I’ve lived my life the best I could
Now I stand here before you.

This is the last time that I stand
For you had always given a helping hand.
Let me stand on the other side
And forever be by your side.

We stood in front of my grandmother’s
Old almirah, facing each other
The peacock feather and empty bags  
Of the square room fell silent all over again,
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

Then they all came, marched in, reflections,
Paraded in like martyrs of Brute’s History.
I knew them all, she knew them too
They came, touched us one by one,
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

She looked confused just like me
Watching life pass by, centuries reuniting
After a very long season break, nations-
Travelled, explorers stood upstairs watching,
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

Streets strapped the coffee cans and middle-
Aged hospitals swallowed wars. Married women
Bend over like animals and in months, unable
To breathe they gave birth to few number plates;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

The city vomited battles, human heads
And dreams of muted foul slaves. Men and-
Their violent tradition screeched for blue number-
Plates, lean number plates, handsome number plates;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

Unexploded bombs bounced happy homes,
My brothers, my kids, my mothers
Blew their windows and ran, ran away,
Ran afar without destination;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

They were all dark, their land was darkness
Or were we all blind?
Like a watchman we preserved darkness,
The vapours that filled their glasses did not speak;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

We are all reflections, ripples and mirrors
Of men-dead and living.
They all stood outside my almirah, million faces
Inside a mirror. She did recognize them;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

She did nothing, an unusable empathy rolled in,
The hypocrite did not even cry.
In quiet hours she smelt pain, blood and
History flowing from confronting corners;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

An insignificant obligation drowned her nerve,
They needed a home, candle flame, cotton and wool.
The land, their land has become unfamiliar
And they stood outside locked gates and laws;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.

They all smelt the same blood, the abused blood,
I tried to kiss them and they kissed me back with-
Their cold lips. I tried to touch them, they touched-
Me back with water in their eyes;
Like strangers we stood facing each other.