The Masked Ones

They came with a smile at morn
And beamed as sunrays at dawn
They brightened our shores with their masts
And sang sweet melodies of love

At noon, turned their smiles snarls
And their dazzling light, blind dark
Then their beautiful masts were tainted
With the blood and sweat of our own

At dusk, and all the smiles were gone
Gone were the sweet melodies of love
the christly brotherliness and oneness
pain and ruin had taken their place

At night we watched them carry our sons away
On great machines across the waters
To lands afar, where i hear the sun sets not
And white demons of cold, the bones wreak

I hear the toild and sweat of our own
The rails and roads of the white god built
And their coarse and rough palms
their plantations and mines nurtured

I hear the early morning greetings,
Were the sounds of canes and chains
That cracked their bare and tender backs
And bruised their ankles and wrist

I hear the priestly voice of the white god
now utters curses, commands and orders
And I hear the dignity of our own
Was replaced by shame, scorn and scars

Alas! I hear the saddest of all tales
that our brethren no longer their names bear
I hear they have forgotten their past
And know not whither, whence or hence
That they are forever lost
In the land of the white god
Far away across many waters.

... But I see a new dawn approaching
And the dreams speak of an awakening
A homecoming of the departed
A reunion of the lost with their own
Is it but a dream
Nay! They come indeed.


The Background

I wrote this poem in 1998 after reading Walter Rodney's "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" and some accounts of the slave trade. It was performed at Panafest 1999 with late Kiki Gyan at the key board playing their Osibisa classic "Welcome Home"