The Plains Part 2
They will tell you
In simple language
(As is the language of truth)
Of murders, tortures and deprivations
By an alien race
Of sons and daughters of the plains
They will show you
As in a dream
The hills of wheat and dams of milk
Carried away on the iron snake
To feed the oppressors’ sons in Eton;
They will not hide the scars
Begotten in the years that followed
The return of the exile
And the blood that flowed
That the plains may live
And be, as they had been,
Inhabited by their own seed.
The history of these plains
Has been recounted elsewhere
But never relived as when
We made this steep descent
And I descended into memory
And sorrow and forgiveness.
The birds of the plains
Are famed for their plumes;
Their seasoned flocks
Defying the public gaze
When they fly- the birds,
Their shadow covers Nakuru
And when they roost
Europeans arrive on holiday.
I have seen them send messages
To the Roosevelts of America
And receive the same from Mao.
I have seen them cloud the sky
And shower the earth
With their radiance.
Birds of the plains!
We sing with you
The beauty of the plains
And you carry the message
To all corners of the globe, and further
And as you are free
So, too, the inhabitants of the plains!
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