One Life

I wrote this in my 20s in the Apartheid era as a tribute to the many people we lost. During this time our home and our church were invaded by the Special Branch while we were holding meetings. Our phone was tapped, and at work I received a scare call from the Wit Wolf that a bomb was placed in our legal offices. And yet my anti-apartheid involvement was very light-touch and perfectly legal! Heady days indeed. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abDQ6Y4jrnM One Life (Brian Peters) It's so hard to touch a life And it's so hard to feel To know that this is right And this is what is real And when one life goes out Nothing's changed, nothing's new It's your point-of-view You know it could have been you There's no meaning except to know That this is what we give No sense to what we've lost Except to know we live And when one life goes out Something changes within It's a tragedy I guess it could have been me And I'm thinking about Robert And I'm thinking about Ruth And I'm thinking about Albert And I'm thinking about Rick And I'm thinking about Stephen And I'm thinking about Neil And I'm thinking about David And I'm thinking about Chris And I'm thinking about Matthew And I'm thinking about Fort And I'm thinking about Hector And I'm thinking about Saul And I'm thinking about Dulcie And I'm thinking about Johnny And I'm thinking about Solomon And I'm thinking about Sipho And when one life goes out Something changes within It's a tragedy