In the dark of night and despair
Our souls were torches, burning.
In sunken chalets of mud and filth
We found home in laughter.
In droughts that came too often, in famine
We nursed our hunger in silence,
Stitching the holes in our pockets shut.
Then we set forth against fate
Guilty of little fear
To re-write history, we would strive
And work
And fight,
And beg,
And cheat,
And we would not stop
Until the flames in our eyes
From souls set ablaze with hope
Gives us charge of our tomorrow.