Africa

Land of mystery
Magical land
The last continent
Cape Town
The end of the world
With names like Zimbabwe
Botswana
The Ivory Coast
Egypt, for God’s sake
Not to mention Cameroon
Ethiopia
The Congo
Tunisia
Words that roll off the tongue
Words that make me want to go
Just so that I can say
“I went to Mozambique”

Africa
She calls me back
I’m here
She’s there
I brought a piece of her home
I left a piece of me there
She wakes this morning in the mist
Another day in poverty
Another day in clouds
Another day in her riches
In her diamond mines
In her human stink
In her magnificence
I in my bathrobe
Her in her nakedness
Petals of Africa
Left scattered on my pillow

Africa
Wild and free
Yet not
Dichotomy of our Earth
Even the animals no longer run free
The child in me calls out
“Oh, let’s say the names of the animals!”
All right then
Hippopotamus
Rhinoceros
Wildebeest and Ostrich
Cheetah
Giraffe
Antelope and Baboon
Lions and tigers, but no bears
Something’s missing here
In the largess of this great land
Even its indigenous people are yoked
By poverty and AIDS
Slavery and their white masters
Still…

Africa
10,000 cultures
Speaking in 2000 languages
By 922,300,000 people trying to co-exist
And live for another day
In a land that is 11,668,545 square miles
Bigger than Europe, The USA and China put together
They don’t make ‘em any bigger
On this, our little Earth
There are no bigger problems on Earth
Than Africa
There is no bigger hope on Earth
Than for Africa
The chain is no stronger than its weakest link
Mankind should be judged
Not by the strong
Not by its triumphs
But how it handles the lowly
The weak, the impoverished
The unfortunate
Africa is our opportunity for greatness

Africa
Let us turn our eyes to Africa
To the great heart of Africa
To its confusion
To its wonders
To its tragedy
To its magnificence

I’m going back