O darkness and night swallow us
Earth open wide under our feet
And devour us, lightning char us
Power lines collapse and scorch our flesh.

The mobs burn our houses, loot shops
Hunt us down like stray street dogs
Violate women, slice babies in womb in two
We scamper for cover like traumatized rats.

Yesterday’s good neighbours roam today’s streets
Like rabid dogs, eyes steaming, gleaming with hate
They brandish swords and menacing daggers
Their shrill curses spike the air.

Unsure, cornered, we implore the men in khaki
Paid from our taxes to protect us
Eyes shifty, they gaze into a vacuum
With clandestine, coded looks to marauding mobs.

Torched, tortured, slaughtered
We’re thrust back to Mother Earth’s womb
In reports, court files, lawyers’ records
we’re just missing or migrated out of state

O where can we flee, O heavens?
O that we could vaporise into thin air!
Hungry oceans devour us
Sun god, burn us to ashes.