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.
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