We were told it would give us freedom, but got chains
We were promised progress, but returned to the dark ages
Where we expected bread, it fed fat on our hungers
While we prayed for hope, it grew on our fears
When we dared to cry, silence was enthroned by bullets.

We came back home with ambitions in our hearts
We came back home with greenbacks in our bags
We came back home with ideas in our heads
We parted ways with hosts to retrace long lost homes
But what we see is freedom supported by chains

Some stayed back because they believed the promises
As we were plied with new lies to quell old tears
We watered the bud of hope for the flower of our futures
And were slow in recognizing the demise of fast fading hopes
Because the democracy promised came in steel chains

So we watch their possessed dance, drenched in silent tears
We look on as freedom is locked up in democracy’s empty promises
And cannot protest when starvation becomes food for the masses
Even though we were promised that democracy would put food on tables
Instead we got democracy that is draped in chains

We were promised balms to sooth our open wounds
Yet we are but pawns to impress foreign powers
We were promised homes with proper roofs
Yet our children are born under the glare of naked flares
For the democracy they gave us is held up by thugs

We were promised light inside our homes and clothes on our backs
But we have learnt to see in the dark and wrap with our rags
We salivate at the hope that once promised so many dishes
Praying even as we know that redemption is only in our graves
Because the democracy we see is decked in golden chains.