LASANA BANDEL‪É‬ Jamaicanlion

THIS LAND IS FREE This land Is free Beautiful And free Except for The stinking jails And chained minds In concrete castles This land is free Open fields Breath taking Mountain sides Cool Unfailing waterfalls When you see The food This land yields You'll see The land is free Free, free Not like Free food Or, free for all But free As divinity, free Slaves blood Has been shed It has been said The battle is won And slaves are free But as far as Eye can see The land alone is free Come Wonder in the artistic orchestration Of sight lengthening varieties Of trees Be dazzled By legions of flowers Intoxicating, colourful And wild Be stolen By the polyphonic Symphonies Of Birds Be smothered By the punctuating dripping Of seeds and blossoms Playing percussive melodies On dry leaves, rotten woods And bare ground, classically This land is free Except for those Who are slaves To their freedom Who are always Too hungry to fight Too fearful to bite The vampire's hands Who suck their children's blood And keep the food Out of the reach of Everyone with the will But not the means to survive But are always cheap labourers Building Empires Never get enough To appease hunger Or defuse strife The land is free With cooing birds Cleansing streams Sheltering hills Creatures of many kinds But not free of oppression and grief For the man Chained by the brain Who can't see He Is but a scum If he keeps Fighting for crumbs Instead of To be free Lasana Bandele (c) 1986 8.11.86 (p) 1986 Storitela Publishing Ltd. LBP-161-spOne Love!!!