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  • Writer's pictureMo Malele

Passion is the currency of the living

Passion is the currency of the living

Meaning the living are trading in passion

Not dollars, Euros, pounds, rands or bands

That make 16 year old strippers dance

I said Passion is the currency of the living


So what is your passion

What currency are you living in

What land are you standing in

What sand are you digging in

What castles are you building

What knowledge are you giving

And to whose children

What makes you feel alive in the morning

What makes you smile at the suns dawning

What values are you pawning

Let this be a warning

That we can’t forever be mourning the memories of days gone past

I said Passion is the currency of the living


So you are either living or dying

If you’re dying you better start rioting

If you’re rioting, you better start writing

And if you’re writing your words better start rising

Like corpses from the grave

Off your blood stained page

Into the air that we breathe

Like an air-born disease

So the hopeless can breathe it

Maybe then they will start to believe it


In this revolution that for so long

Was all mouth but no talk

All clout but no walk

All service but no delivery

All noise but no voice

All ears but never hears

That Passion is the currency of the living

Which leads me to believe that this revolution

Should be passion filled

And not loophole riddled


Those that trade in passion must start a movement

That will force in a revolution

Majestic on paper but

Realistic in nature

A revolution

Ideological in pretext but

Biological in context

In laymen’s terms

A revolutionary movement

That will be an evolutionary testament that

Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X,

Jessie Jackson, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Lillian Ngoyi,

Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Govan Mbeki, Oliver Tambo,

Walter Sisulu, Mariam Makeba, Mamphela Ramphele,

Charlotte Maxeke, Albertina Sisulu, Victoria Mxenge,

Amy Biehl and Mary Malahlela

Can be proud of

A revolution that will rest their souls in peace

And put their hearts at ease

For our mothers and fathers

Aunts and uncles

Ancestors and predecessors

Have given birth to a nation

Fornicated a new generation

That will redefine freedom

Better define equality

Dissolve poverty

And resolve unemployment

Passion is the currency of the living


What is your passion

What’s your dream revolution

What do you want to invest in

What land are you standing in

What quicksand are you drowning in

What currency do you trade in

What passion are you bartering

Whose bread are you buttering

Whose evolution do you believe in

And what creation are you worshipping

So I ask what is your passion

your plan for this revolution


We need to answer these questions

So we can be a youth that has learnt its lessons

And paid its attentions

A youth that draws its power from passion, purpose and direction

Bringing a wave of new age change

So let’s replace the word power with passion

And no longer say “power to the people”, but rather say

“passion to people” “passion by the people”

“passion for the people”

Because passion is the currency of the living

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