This poem is inspired by signs that people, ordinary people, are beginning to
take their lives in their hands in many parts of the world, despite all odds and
long time marginalisation. It is therefore a tribute to their struggle for life,
dignity, prosperity and happiness.


Your Millennium

Vehicle of humanity
Bearers of culture
True authors of history
What a mystery

From Footsteps on the jungle runway
To the buzzing electronic highway
Robots and machines in place
Relief turn threat
What a journey

So it’s your millennium

Castles have been built
Great walls and pyramids erected
Written with your life
Your sweat tears and blood
Yet Nobody seems to remember
The thief in the night

Kings and Generals
Great names with wealth and power
Rubbed you off your achievements
Erasing history’s footprints
Making you an object of scorn

Just a pawn?

As you begin to understand your story
A seed begins to germinate
In the middle of the desert
Its visibility obscured
By the tantalising mirages

The wealth you make is valued
Your worth devalued
Suddenly you burden humanity
And your children must sing
Mea Culpa
In wretchedness and dismay

As the mighty markets determine their value
Your dreams wither away

And when the bubble bursts?
For kingdoms have come and gone

The giant in you begins to roar
Awake and luminous
Your stars will reincarnate
As you claim centre stage
Rewriting history
Redefining values
For you are the real jewel

Without you the bubble will degenerate
There will be no power
No wealth
No happiness
No culture
No society
No nations
No civilisations

How fragile our notions are!

So it’s your millennium
Your power
People’s power
The final stage of collective liberation


By Alpha Robinson

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