White Sails, Dark Souls

In the hold tears are shackled White eyes stare dark corners Bare breasts hang limpid Humanity dowsed in sewage The slaver pitches, rolls Each wave a fathom from home Each trough a deeper despair The screams and creaks in rhyme Lost souls ghost the gloom Living meat on planked beds The stench of shame fills the air The cry for God but no one there The slaver ponders onwards With its holds of sins Black gold, worth in weight Only time holds their fate Bilges slurp of piss and degradation Chains chatter, implore salvation But the lash comes quick Skin and hearts so easily broken White sails on waves of shame Sullies forth in evils name Devil smiles at man's behaviour And fortunes gained on slave labour On the quay in lines they stand Commodity of a human brand And brand they will, darkened skin With each mark a white man's sin Dark these pages of history Have we travelled in our thinking Just how far have we come The nettle of conscience does it sting As racism still festers in the heart White sails still float waves of shame