my freedom song

by Tom (Twilite) Clark

do not expect fancy words

there is nothing pretty here

when they slam shut my cage

my jailers keep looking at me

watching me piss

watching me sleep

the air a stale sweat

of urine and shit

the floor so cold

every morning I clean the buckets

I feel no shame

for I am a man

I am just a man

my captors torment me

they torture my friends

I forgive them all

I will stand

I will not bend

they will not break me

I cannot see the sun

or feel it on my face

the wind a memory of time and space

yet just beyond these walls

dazzled birds sing my freedom song

brilliant jewels in plumage fine

colors so vivid so bright

I see them now

I hear them sing

Rolihlahla Rolihlahla

troublemaker

pulling the branch of the tree

Rolihlahla Rolihlahla

sing for me

sing my freedom song

Mediba, Mediba

our brother, our son

our family all together

we must live as one

Tata father grandfather

teach us how

mother sister daughter

we must live together

work together love together

laugh and dance and sing

together now as one

I am not this island

barren and bleak

I am not this outpost of hatred and fear

I am not

always and forever

I am the captain of my soul

glowing with spirit light

but in this prison

groaning heavy with footsteps

a clamor of screams

and a clang clank of voices

there is nothing to do but wait

27 years I wait

my whole life I wait

and tomorrow is the same today as the day before

broken like my fate upon these stones

and my lips are the lips of birds

lonely and alone

singing my freedom song

Rolihlahla Rolihlahla

troublemaker

pulling the branch of the tree

Rolihlahla Rolihlahla

sing for me

sing my freedom song

we are together here

my comrades and I

we rot here in this prison

but we do not die

because we believe

we will fight and endure

we will be free

Rolihlahla Rolihlahla

troublemaker

pulling the branch of the tree

Rolihlahla Rolihlahla

sing my freedom song

sing for me

and the brilliant plumage like jewels I see

and the dazzled birds

now they sing for me

my freedom song

Tom Clark, aka Tommy Twilite, is the founding co-director of Florence Poets Society and is my friend. I was lucky to have the opportunity to hear Tommy read his poem for Nelson Mandela aloud this past week--so incredibly powerful. I am thrilled to share Tommy’s words with my blog readers and with the Real Toads, where Kerry has posted a moving tribute to Madiba. If you have comments about Tommy's poem, I will be pleased to share them with him.