Nelson Mandela has died this week – the following is a tribute to him.
His refusal to hate and look for reprisal against those who so horribly persecuted him and his people, reminds me of the words which I believe are attributed to Martin Luther King Snr:
“no man can make me hate him”
We should all ponder on those words…
Get thee behind me Hatred!
I will not march to your tune.
You strut and press about me,
Yet would lead me to my ruin.
I have been sore oppressed:
Wronged, enslaved, injured,
By those who march with you.
Yet somehow, have I endured.
You would recruit me too,
To join your damned brigade:
Vast multitudes of minions,
With spiteful intent arrayed.
You enrol us by subtlety:
Eye for an eye… so easy
To enlist, yet your strategy
Wins naught but misery.
To take your bloody shilling,
And let my anger be hijacked,
Dealing yet more bloodshed,
Is merely dead-end contract.
For anger needs a channel,
To equip us for the fight.
But not your vicious circle,
That leads to hellish night.
So I’ll fight with real force:
Not some Hollywood epic,
But with the reconciling love
That is man’s ultimate physic.
No man can make me hate him!
I who have been cruelly treated.
Hate will pass away, and love alone
Remains – supremely undefeated.