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  <title>Jonathan Hitchcock - Vhata Vas Hyah</title>
  <subtitle>A life in the day of Jonathan Hitchcock</subtitle>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://vhata.net/stuff/homeland"/>
  <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://vhata.net/node/305/atom/feed"/>
  <id>http://vhata.net/node/305/atom/feed</id>
  <updated>2007-06-20T17:24:12+02:00</updated>
  <entry>
    <title>Homeland</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://vhata.net/stuff/homeland" />
    <id>http://vhata.net/stuff/homeland</id>
    <published>2007-06-20T17:23:32+02:00</published>
    <updated>2007-06-20T17:24:12+02:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Jonathan Hitchcock</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<h3>by Michelle Frost</h3>
<p>
Within my soul, within my mind,<br />
There lies a place I cannot find.<br />
Home of my heart. Land of my birth.<br />
Smoke-coloured stone and flame-coloured earth.<br />
Electric skies. Shivering heat.<br />
Blood-red clay beneath my feet.<br />

<br />
At night when finally alone,<br />
I close my eyes - and I am home.<br />
I kneel and touch the blood-warm sand<br />
And feel the pulse beneath my hand<br />
Of an ancient life too old to name,<br />
In an ancient land too wild to tame.<br />
<br />
How can I show you what I feel?<br />
How can I make this essence real?<br />

I search for words in dumb frustration<br />
To try and form some explanation,<br />
But how can heart and soul be caught<br />
In one-dimensional written thought?<br />
<br />
If love and longing are a "fire"<br />
And man "consumed" by his desire,<br />
Then this love is no simple flame<br />
That mortal thought can hold or tame.<br />

As deep within the earth's own core<br />
The love of home burns evermore.<br />
<br />
But what is home? I hear them say,<br />
This never was yours anyway.<br />
You have no birthright to this place,<br />
Descendant from another race.<br />
An immigrant? A pioneer?<br />
You are no longer welcome here.<br />

<br />
Whoever said that love made sense?<br />
"I love" is an "imperfect" tense.<br />
To love in vain has been man's fate<br />
From history to present date.<br />
I have no grounds for dispensation,<br />
I know I have no home or nation.<br />
<br />
For just one moment in the night<br />
I am complete, my soul takes flight.<br />

For just one moment.... then it's gone<br />
and I am once again undone.<br />
Never complete. Never whole.<br />
White Skin and an African soul.<br />
</p>    ]]></summary>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<h3>by Michelle Frost</h3>
<p>
Within my soul, within my mind,<br />
There lies a place I cannot find.<br />
Home of my heart. Land of my birth.<br />
Smoke-coloured stone and flame-coloured earth.<br />
Electric skies. Shivering heat.<br />
Blood-red clay beneath my feet.<br />

<br />
At night when finally alone,<br />
I close my eyes - and I am home.<br />
I kneel and touch the blood-warm sand<br />
And feel the pulse beneath my hand<br />
Of an ancient life too old to name,<br />
In an ancient land too wild to tame.<br />
<br />
How can I show you what I feel?<br />
How can I make this essence real?<br />

I search for words in dumb frustration<br />
To try and form some explanation,<br />
But how can heart and soul be caught<br />
In one-dimensional written thought?<br />
<br />
If love and longing are a "fire"<br />
And man "consumed" by his desire,<br />
Then this love is no simple flame<br />
That mortal thought can hold or tame.<br />

As deep within the earth's own core<br />
The love of home burns evermore.<br />
<br />
But what is home? I hear them say,<br />
This never was yours anyway.<br />
You have no birthright to this place,<br />
Descendant from another race.<br />
An immigrant? A pioneer?<br />
You are no longer welcome here.<br />

<br />
Whoever said that love made sense?<br />
"I love" is an "imperfect" tense.<br />
To love in vain has been man's fate<br />
From history to present date.<br />
I have no grounds for dispensation,<br />
I know I have no home or nation.<br />
<br />
For just one moment in the night<br />
I am complete, my soul takes flight.<br />

For just one moment.... then it's gone<br />
and I am once again undone.<br />
Never complete. Never whole.<br />
White Skin and an African soul.<br />
</p>    ]]></content>
  </entry>
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