Come tell me ibrahim. about this day that you'll remember. Tell the story over to be sure it really happened. How you gathered in a circle. to protect your kneeling brothers. Amid the howling of the sirens. and the stutter of the gunfire. Ahmed shaking hands coming late into the square. Clean clothes and looking good. for the people's revolution. For you cannot choose a time. you may be chosen for a martyr. Pushing through the soldiers smile as wide as ever. And at night on the great river the party boats pass. And the music and lights float away in the darkness. We're sailing with only the sound of our voices. and the water. And the man pulls on his cigarette. and pulls the boat round. And we all fall forward tumbling and laughing. And the bright-eyed boy watches his father. Listening and feeling and learning to read the wind. 250 Miles south-west and into the sahara. The white stone figures tower away to the horizon. I'm like a pawn in a chess game gazing up in fear. For in these great games of power. they sacrifice their children. And in the black velvet night we built our little fire. And watched the desert foxes daring to come closer. Our broken conversations eaten by the silence. Just the crackle of the flames. and a billion stars above us. And they tell me God is great but this I've never doubted. We each find wonder in the sky and the mountains. In the waves of people gathered and waiting. Listening and feeling and learning to read the wind. Lazy flies sugar sweet teas. Winter chill flame-fire trees. The great eucalyptus watching and waving. As the crowds come now from every direction. They tell me God is great but this I've never doubted. We each find wonder in the sky and in the mountains. In the hot scalding winds that will come from the desert. Hot enough for drying all the blood that has fallen. And at night on the great river the party boats pass. And the music and lights float away in the darkness. We're sailing with only the sound of our voices. and the water. And the man pulls on his cigarette and pulls us around. And we all fall forward tumbling and laughing. And the bright-eyed boy watches his father. Listening and feeling and learning to read the wind