Forty Acres and a Mule

The Captive

28 The fault’s in we when we’ve used you To smite and smash kin and kith Stoic is the faith Rich is the pain For harvests, in vain Note: mu-ngang – medicine/magical powers; medicine-man with some capacity to interact beyond the human world The Captive Caught betwixt and between In a state of a double man Seeks in vain the balance Between cannons of silver-gilt savagery and imbecile servitude Wants independence, To find his identity Casts it yonder, Accepts dependence East of West for him? Is home indeed, the best? Could the monkey be right? Is it home everywhere? Does goodness makes its home Outside? Does the sun rise in the north and set in the south? Is the grass green on the other side? Must he look north with its blinding rays? Or south with its crippling darkness? 29 Aware of the cripple’s dignity Learns, still, to reject that which is his Albeit the merits in which he sees Even when the Shark’s back’s not home Wears a double-faced mask, the captive Is his ‘bad’ worse than their ‘good?’ Is their ‘good’ better than his ‘bad?’ Seeks in vain what balance The captive No Nobel Testament The end of the tether I’ve come Deep inside the septic tank In esoteric wars called acada I plunged as I was pushed And told – to be made man I fight no longer For fraternity badges and drums To blare the empire’s hymn of thunder Smiting kith and kin here and there Spiteful game of fame – now lost under Now I tread paths my own In familiar forests and valleys I take command on the Kilimanjaro I paddle in steadier, surer Deeper waters of the Congo Soul of Mwenumotapa, arise On your stones I scroll Timbuktu Colonize, christianize or civilize ...