Of cause I know it was Osama
Who turned my life upside down?
It's not my fault that today I am terrorized
Turned inside out, they search my soul
One so open and bare, couldn't hide a needle.

Daddy told me, 'you can't be king wherever'
But to your people and in your land
That's how I fold my tail, like a dog I evince
Accepting everything I can get with humility
The soldier in me manumitted in a strange land.

I watch your discussion on Television
Never sparing me a day, like I were a wizard in your pack
I take the left over jobs, I know you don't want to do them
You blame me for putting pressure on your infrastructure
But I pay for everything, for you to enjoy for free
I get no vacation, no unemployment benefit, can't complain
All I want is a chance to put smiles on distraught faces.

I haven't seen a doctor in years
Been stressed, had no choice but ignore
Once had a flue, bills I still had to pay?
Sneezed my day at work, shamefully it left me alone.
The time I try to rest, my children cry
They get louder in the ears of my head
They cry, daddy, daddy, we miss you, please come home
So harder and harder I work, hoping to get back with them
In the next year, but it never happens
More and more of my people succumb to AIDS
They leave widows, then orphans
With no one to take care for.

I promise my wife, one more year
It will be four years, maybe they grant me asylum
Then you can join me to this, the land of milk and honey
So I keep hope floating, she has no choice
I swear my never ending love, I leave her no words
She is stuck with the man in her dreams.

My son was nine when I left, he turned into a teenager
My daughter was four months old, she
Will learn to read and write.
I see a little girl, run past my door every day
Oh she is so sweet, I tell her mother
Thank you she said, nut, I know she says to herself
How old is she I asked once
Will be four in June she says
My heart stops a second, mine will be four in June too
But I can't say it, I can't imagine
How that little pack of pure joy can bring sadness to me
I watch her run away in the distance
So my mind wanders that far.

I love news, I love talk shows, and they glue me to television
Now it's almost always about immigrants
Illegal immigrants, defines me in a nutshell
The only thing I have ever been that's illegal
My heart aches, not only for me, but for thousands
Most of my African brothers and sisters
Ridiculed by near disasters at home, and by humanity abroad
I cry inside, Oh Lord what have I done wrong
My heart will never know true happiness
All I can do is create peace inside me
For the crumbs that still make a difference
In the life of my people
I know that someday, my hosts will ask me to leave
To go back to my impoverished existence
That I am so used to, with the rest of my people
I appreciate though, that I have outlived my welcome
I can't blame them, this is their home
They are entitled to their privacy.