Mugabe and Mandela,
Two strategies for change:
One would whites include;
One would whites estrange.
Murder begets murder;
White murder begets black.
Once one goes for blood,
There's no exit back.
Power unrestrained
By wisdom, love, or law
Leads to even greater
Horrors than before.
Yet letting whites retain
The property they stole
Leaves blacks still dispossessed,
Though equal at the poll.
For wealth is ever power,
Wont to have its way
With those of any color
Who happen to hold sway.
And so the pot still boils
With anger finely honed.
Was violence avoided?
Or was it just postponed?
Mugabe and Mandela,
Two ways to found a state:
One through storms still sailing;
The other drowned in hate.
Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.
Audio and Video Music: Virtutes Instrumenti. By Kevin MacLeod. Performed by Kevin MacLeod at the Free Music Archive under an Attribution license.