Unity’s all we ask and need

For Rudy Lewis
On April 1st, 2009, the British police, acting under orders, attacked peaceful demonstrators with batons, causing one death.


Have we, in some small way,
earned battle colours here?
We rainbow whites, greens, reds, browns
have faced the violence of the

ones clothed all in black,
caught in this clash between
provocateurs and servants of authority,
not of the people.

Unity’s all we ask and need.
One blow’s enough to make us bleed.

Will you now give us your hand
brothers, who have for centuries
suffered the baton blow, the whip lash
and stinging disrespect?

Will you extend to us
the hand of brotherhood,
we offering to you this token blood
that stains our faces, and the London streets?

To you, this was a passing slight,
You’ve been corralled for centuries, not hours
and we were beaten for our thoughts,
not for the colour of our skin.

Unity’s all we ask and need.
One blow’s enough to make us bleed.

And will you, the ones the Nazis
kettled in Warsaw and worse
Auschwitz and Buchenwald
Will you now listen to our song?

Unity’s all we ask and need.
One blow’s enough to make us bleed.

And you, who live in terror of the Nazis’
victim’s sons, will you reach out to us
extend the hand of friendship for our wounds,
hear what we have to say?

Unity’s all we ask and need.
One blow’s enough to make us bleed.

And will you, yes our brothers
dressed in black, faces masked,
you with your shields and clubs
to use on undefended flesh,

Will you not start to question why,
Why are these voices to be blocked?
What are they calling for?
Why are these dreamers such a threat?

Unity’s all we ask and need.
One blow’s enough to make us bleed.

© Richard Lawson
April 9, 2009