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Spoken version
A recorded reading of “Fires on the Highveld”. If the player does not load, use the original audio source.
Smoke on the ridges. Dust climbs the sky. We know the reason. We know the lie. Foreign hands bite fertile ground— take the seam, leave hollow sound. They mow the veld. They load the coal. They price the bread. They count the whole. Fire runs through the mealie stand; they fence the ash and claim the land. From farm to shaft the story runs— heat shivers under Highveld suns. Under koppie, dump, and spoor, the ground keeps something older, sure: a deeper flame we will not name. They fear its tongue, its quiet aim. We see the smoke. We hear the cry. We hold this ground as bakkies fly. Fires on the Highveld— we stand by wind and wire. “Hamba! Hamba!” ledgers grin. They call it growth and call it win. They strike the match, then look away, and leave the people to the day. From windpump shade to bluegum rows we keep the posts where dust-wind blows. Hadedas rake the morning air; mine-dump gusts salt tongue and hair. Yet still the soil beneath the crust keeps ember letters writ in dust— and in the blackened winter grass one green blade lifts through ash.
Lyrics
Smoke on the hills, dust in the sky We know the reason, we know the lie Foreign hands in the fertile ground Take the gold, leave the hollow sound They cut the grass, they strip the coal They take the bread, they take the soul And when the flames burn through the field They claim the land the fire healed From farm to mine, the story runs In the heat beneath the Highveld suns But the ground still holds a deeper flame A fire they can’t even name We see the smoke, we hear the cry We’ll guard the land till the day we die (Fires on the Highveld) We’ll fight for every tree (Fires on the Highveld) The earth will not be free (Chant: “Hamba! Hamba!”) They call it growth, they call it trade But it’s just the same old game they played They light the match, then turn away While the people fight the day From the veld to the dam’s wide shore We’ll guard the land forevermore And the fire in the Highveld grass Will burn until the thieves all pass
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