Les discours sont libre
Mais si ça va faire mal
Ne les dis pas
We are told that words are free
But no one warns us about how expensive
It is to cure from wounds inflicted by words
That should have been left unsaid
Today, most people are everything they never wanted
Because everything they have always wanted to be
Was destroyed by carelessly said expressions and opinions
Of what others wanted them to be,
Words can kill dreams and destinies
Les discours sont libre
Mais si ça va faire mal
Ne les dis pas
The tongue has no bone
But it is the strongest, sometimes the fiercest part of a human body.
From our communities to vast facebook, twitter and instagram streets,
Our tongues sting with hate;
Unconscious, sometimes conscious
Unverified, carelessly uttered words intended to divide, hurt or kill.
Hate speech wreaks more havoc than a well targeted bomb
It is venomous, camouflaged in assumptions…
Generational ideologies passed on from people to people
Les discours sont libre
Mais si ça va faire mal
Ne les dis pas
Why do we seem to log out of our brains
Every time we log into the net?
We create negative conversations about people
Or where they come from
We make fake news travel faster than a flashlight
We no longer think when we click, tweet or speak
We all love jokes but jokes are not funny
When they are intended to make others cry
Jokes like referring to Anglophones as anglofools
Or calling bangwa people, 99 sense
Or referring to Northern settlers as sheep
Hate speech is the face behind the mask that has for decades
Spurred world wars and atrocities:
The holocaust
The Cambodian genocide
The 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda
The Anglophone crisis
Les discours sont libre
Mais si ça va faire mal
Ne les dis pas
By the sting of our tongues
Men have carried the venoms of bitterness in their veins
Nations have gone to war, fighting with no gain
Young people have died without a whimper of pain
Hate is taking over our humanity, pouring nonstop like heavy rains
We are only travelers
Walking through this universe we call home
To be here today and gone tomorrow
The only thing that stays
is our footprints
The memories we create
And how our words made people feel
Les discours sont libre
Mais si ça va faire mal
Ne les dis pas
© PENBOY