It happened while we slumbered,

We didn't see the signs.

Too distracted and complacent

To read between the lines.

We swallowed up the mantra,

We lapped it up with glee.

For we were the enlightened ones

With a university degree.

We opened up our hearts to share,

We didn't really mind.

After all, it is the Christian way

To be generous and kind.

For us, we are the lucky ones,

We could easily be you.

It surely is a moral thing

To our true selves subdue.

So we gladly opened up our arms,

With one tied behind our back.

And poured out our humanity

To prove there was no lack.

We downplayed our successes,

Our heritage, our pride.

We can take the hit for equality,

And cast our needs aside.

The void we had created,

Soon started to amass.

Into gaping wounds of shame and guilt

For our ancestral past.

Rudderless we floated,

On a vast progressive sea.

Being told what to think and say

And what we should believe.

Until a tiny voice inside our head

Grew louder every day.

And uttered long forgotten things,

That we're not meant to say.

Be proud of where you came from,

The place in which you've grown

It's not a sin to love your kin

And the only home you've ever known.

Bart 23