BELONG by Lemn Sissay

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BELONG by Lemn Sissay
BELONG by Lemn Sissay

Have you seen the churches of lalibella
Swam in the warm springs of Addis Ababa
Have you heard the reaching Nile
Of the bible and the Koran
My Abyssinia

Have you heard whispering widow peaks of sand
Seen the reeling rainbows as Victoria falls
Felt the mists on the Simien mountains
And the dust clouds of Harare's hyenas call

And did you see the gentle man taken
Then imprisoned for twenty five years
Who walked out of chains and became president
And who faced down the world's fears

Did you see his example to the world
How he embraced his adversary
Spoke of unassailable truth and reconciliation

Then we flounder in wars' anniversary

Hold me while spirits of the past &
Rivers of blood run through me
All this past feeds this present
And brings the truth into me

His story your search, his journey ours Something rings true inside and strong
I Stand atop Piccadilly Tower and sing I belong. I belong.

I the Mogadishan who knows troubled waters
I the Belfast man who knows troubled cities
I the Ethiopian who knows troubled lands
I the Serbian who crosses troubled seas

Who walked through darkened valleys
Under the shadows of death and bled
And who lay amongst the freshly killed
And in fear of tears played dead

Those who have cried cities sobbed roads
In the name of here and where they came from Stand with children atop Bridgewater Hall
And sing I belong here I belong

I am the blackest blackest blackest man
The tongue twists the skin dark I moved next door to the whitest poet In John Cooper Clarke

I'm buried in the cemetery where Morrissey walked
In the earth from where grew stone roses
I am the seamstress for Manchester's dream coat
I designed the clothes for Moses

I am the PSV, the sanctuary the kitchen
I am the reno red rhythm the bull ring's blues
I am the dread in its red and for all that's said Wherever I go I am you

I grew in the villages of Lancashire
You stood on my horizon since birth
The reason I came from to Manchester
Is because it's the greatest place on earth

I bring my past I bring my future I bring my rights and I bring my song I stand atop the Hacienda and shout
We belong Here.
We belong.

Lemn Sissay was commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival to write this poem in response to the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's era-defining I Have a Dream speech for a celebratory programme co-produced with Manchester Camerata.

Copyright © Lemn Sissay

Attribution Some rights reserved
Taken on: July 22, 2023
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Sets appears in:   • Manchestered    • Read   
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