In the laughter seeping through the after dinner
drinks
Them with their imported cognacs and whiskies
Me sipping on my warm watery herbal tea
The darkness of their words cloaked my eyes
Pierced the drumming beats in my ears
The blades of words spoken
with the gentleness of a thousand swiss army knives
slashing through the savannah grassland
Guillotine on the unworthy heads of our nations
Every head, it seemed would fall
The poor African babies decapitated
for their inevitable immorality
...unless fed on Caucasian couscous
and nutritious democratic consciousness
Unless fed on modern yes, western mannerisms
they face impending malnutrition
Do I taint your dining experience
With my muddy face in a sea of pristine faces
My Africanness a sore puss
On your delicate chaste skin
Does the tough and rough of my ebony mind
Threaten the brittle halo hovering above your souls
I suppose i should be grateful
For the burden you have borne
To relieve us of a barbaric existence
Clothed our nakedness,
guided us out of the wilderness of ignorance
directed our action with logical thought
gently pried the grenades from our unsaved hearts
filling our bellies with maize and Christ
once filled with bush meat and wild plants
unsavory to the civilized mind
Applause and appreciation is in order
White angels have spread their wings over our barren
lands
sacrificing their lavish, peaceful, scrupulous comforts
to travel on potholed roads
lined with prostitutes and paupers
only to earn pennies instead of pensions
and suffer suntans and servants
under the harsh African sun
