Rain Lullaby

We are

Trembling limbs, slaves to the hands that use the whip.

The hands that sketch what mouth would fear to own.

And the mouths invited to thorns and crumbs.

In these flinted hearts,

Hope is a mere flicker.

For we are

The eyes that will not look tho' the back is turned.

And backs, bruised and bent, salted with sweat.

The blood of our sweats enriches the masters;

Wages of our enrollment,

Is death by installment.

Yet our fathers were

Freemen, proud with God's good grace and blessing.

The blessing of milk and honey, peace transcendental.

Men whose love for peace paved way for progress.

Whence come this tyranny

That saddened our honey?

Though we are

Bones crunched under heavy boots of wicked men,

Hearts heavy with load of humiliation and oppression,

Eyes sunken with longings for an understanding heart.

We will pray

Relief in rain.

On those who trade with our patience,

And grow big-bellied with the profits.

Whose reign is preserved by rituals of corpses that died of wages unpaid,

We pray for rain, we wet our hope in the promised rain.

For yet, this creeping tyranny

May climax into a symphony.

Note: In a University with over 3,500 staff populations and 35,000 students, hundreds of staff had died. These are people who are sick and on medications: Their salaries were cut for thirteen months, they cannot pay for drugs/ medical cares any longer, so they died one after the other.