Written by Peter Hicks and Geoff Francis.
They treat us as flotsam and jetsam,
as though we're the dregs of mankind,
They keep us imprisoned for years
as if we'd committed some terrible, terrible crime.
Because we've no diamonds or rubies
they say that we're jumping the queue -
And they won't let you see us in case you find out
that we're ordinary people like you.
We've buried our sisters and fathers,
our mothers and daughters, our sons,
We've survived terror and torture and sanctions
to find that there's no place on Earth we can run,
With grieving and heartbreak we flee our homeland
to become refugees,
And too many of us have already perished
in a desperate journey over the sea.
But we have hope, we have breath,
we have dreams yet to live,
We have so much to share,
we have so much to give,
Won't you open up your hearts,
won't you please reach out your hands?
Australians old and new,
for peace and justice take a stand.
It's not us who foul up your rivers
or flatten your forests and trees,
And we aren't the people whose waste and pollution threatens even the air that you breathe.
We offer our strength and our pride
to toil with our hearts and our hands,
Farmers and nurses and builders and teachers,
there's so much we can give to this land.
We have hope, we have breath,
we have dreams yet to live,
We have so much to share,
we have so much to give,
Won't you open up your hearts,
won't you please reach out your hands?
Australians old and new,
for peace and justice take a stand.
as though we're the dregs of mankind,
They keep us imprisoned for years
as if we'd committed some terrible, terrible crime.
Because we've no diamonds or rubies
they say that we're jumping the queue -
And they won't let you see us in case you find out
that we're ordinary people like you.
We've buried our sisters and fathers,
our mothers and daughters, our sons,
We've survived terror and torture and sanctions
to find that there's no place on Earth we can run,
With grieving and heartbreak we flee our homeland
to become refugees,
And too many of us have already perished
in a desperate journey over the sea.
But we have hope, we have breath,
we have dreams yet to live,
We have so much to share,
we have so much to give,
Won't you open up your hearts,
won't you please reach out your hands?
Australians old and new,
for peace and justice take a stand.
It's not us who foul up your rivers
or flatten your forests and trees,
And we aren't the people whose waste and pollution threatens even the air that you breathe.
We offer our strength and our pride
to toil with our hearts and our hands,
Farmers and nurses and builders and teachers,
there's so much we can give to this land.
We have hope, we have breath,
we have dreams yet to live,
We have so much to share,
we have so much to give,
Won't you open up your hearts,
won't you please reach out your hands?
Australians old and new,
for peace and justice take a stand.
Contributed by Marcia - 2008/6/25 - 14:04
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