Cityscape (The Guns At Fort St.)

Do the guns still stand there Where my scout troupe met Menacing the sea with old fear Recalling an era of regret. Do they still tell yarns of ships Shooting stray canons wide Over Lucea, and do the lips Of children hunger at fireside Where the canon knocks pot off Expecting inocense to laugh. Do children know the meaning yet Of those guns, the history Their presence through us beget The dark trade of memory? I use to ride them as a child In fondness for their presence there But now my soul sad recoiled From the whipppng winds and tear The children trembling on the deck Before the cruel balls, a speck. History ignites memory with grief While the evening sun across the sea In sleep alone promises relief From the log armada of agony Those guns are impotent today And so is Africa, and so are we No gall the sleep can wash away Ten thousand voices crying in the sea And the old Fort a tourist attraction Stands innocent in their attention.