Month: May 2013

That’s the thirty-second time tonight

That those kids have knocked and run again

I’d stand outside and fight

But there are a million of us: and fifty million of them

There’s a mob smashing down our door

So brave against three kids and their frightened mother

The police don’t come here anymore

We’re just Pakis, so why should they bother?

We tried so hard to reason

But it just pissed them off, that we spoke, just like them

We tried so hard to appease them

But we’re not the same, because we “didn’t die at Arnhem”

When the chips are down, my skin’s still brown

I’m just a Paki to you

When the chips are down, my skin’s still brown

I’m just a Paki to you

We wanted you to end your hatred

We didn’t even want respect

For hours behind that door we waited

Praying that you’d feel regret

And now you want us integrated

Because our background frightens you

But we’re happy differentiated

This way, we might enlighten you

We tried so hard to reason

But it just pissed them off, that we spoke, just like them

We tried so hard to appease them

But we’re not the same, because we “didn’t die at Arnhem”

When the chips are down, my skin’s still brown

I’m just a Paki to you

When the chips are down, my skin’s still brown

I’m just a Paki to you

When the chips are down, my skin’s still brown

I’m just a Paki to you

When the chips are down, my skin’s still brown

I’m just a Paki to you

I thought that we’d turned the corner

I thought that we’d climbed the hill

But we’re right back where we started

Disenfranchised, what a bitter pill

Vocals, programming, guitars, fretless bass: Shahid Ahmad

Solo: Rashid Ahmad

Let me tell you about my dreams

I dream that we are one world in harmony. Not unison. Harmony. Different notes. Same song. Not monotony. Freedom. Improvisation. Joy.

I dream we are able to express ourselves and that our spirits can soar to whatever level they desire, without arbitrary material restriction.

I dream that we are free to enjoy the fruits of one another’s expression and that it inspires us to express even more in resonant sympathy.

I dream that love overcomes indifference, that peace overcomes the oppression of unfettered capitalism and its brother, war, that we win.

I dream that work is done out of love, that the fruits of labour are revered, that the worker is paid before the sweat on their back dries.

I dream that life is a game. That when it’s game over, we enjoyed the game, we played the game, we loved the game, we lived the game.

I dream that you love my family as much as I love your family. That you love my land as much as I love yours, that an eye *sees* an eye.

I dream that life slows down until like a ray-traced still, we can imbibe the beauty of a crystallised moment in all its glory for ever.

I dream that you are happy and that I am happy and that your happiness increases my happiness and mine increases yours.

I dream that acceptance always overrides intolerance; that inclusion smothers exclusion; that giving overcomes receiving.

I dream that whosoever is the worst of my enemies can in an instant be completely forgiven and in an instant become my close friend.

I dream that if I were the cause of distress to you, that you accept my sincere apology and that we may be enemies no more.

I dream of heights that can be aspired to by all, and reached by some; with depths that can be tolerated by and descended to by none.

I dream of a human chorus so rousing and powerful, so majestic in rhythm, so profound, that it propels us into a new golden age of humanity.

And last, but not least, I dream that when I wake, God gives me the strength to start working on making these dreams real. Amen.

With my love to you all, whether you are a friend, or yet to become one; only love will overcome pain and rancour. You have mine.

(Thanks Paul Brimmer for compiling my tweets into a Storify)

Month: May 2013

When the Chips Are Down

I Dream