Rise Pretoria To walk these regal avenues Mid-spring - Full blossom Is to wander through a paradox A canvas of Victorian facades, Serenades by the pastel flames of Monet In lavenders and rose A blaze of jacarandas A lilac blizzard in the late October sun. To walk these coloured boulevards Is to wander through a paradox Of platinum and poverty Of gold, diamonds, Botha, and fear. Serenades by Tutu, and Mandelas, New weavers of dream. A blaze of promises, A ragged hope, unrealized, Trembling in the shadows Of an unknown future. To walk these halls of hope Is to wander through a paradox Shoes on the other feet, The burdens on other backs. Rise Pretoria Shine your obsidian stars Rise Pretoria Build a future with hand That embrace your heritage.
To walk these country roads Is to see the prices paid, The shambles made of lives, The riches sluiced away As blood dried on the ore. The cries of withered lives lost, Just echoes now on the floors, In the tunnels, on the avenues, the boulevards And in these halls of hope.

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