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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2020
The jungle of darkness is walled tall
And the irons barred fast;
Helpless, we stare
As the warders of darkness,
The lords of darkness
Wall in their prisoners and stride away
Clasping fast the keys
Waiting to be placated.
We are the prisoners,
We are the besieged;
We are held back in the jungle of darkness,
And fettered by the cords of darkness.
And so, helpless, we stare
As the warders of darkness,
The lords of darkness
Now belching with the debauchery of shame
And self-congratulatory shamelessness
Wait, confident, to share their booties
For soon they shall be placated.
Truces are reached
Promises are made, and
Soon the billions will be shared –
The booties of shame.
And we stare, held down and helpless
But the warders of darkness,
The lords of darkness
Are in the chambers of debauchery
Clinking their glasses, certain that soon
They shall be placated.
Are they comrades
Who fasten the bars of darkness?
Co-conspirators in the chambers of debauchery
Over the tables of robberies of darkness
Are they?
The warders of darkness, the toads of darkness;
They are here
They are there
They are among us
But they are with them:
The lords of darkness
The toads of darkness
Who, satisfied, are glad of heart
And are clinking their glasses
For the booties ready to be garnered home,
As soon they shall be placated.
Hurray!
Their harvest is here;
It has always been here.
But they gather into famished barns;
Who is it that takes a basket to the river
And comes home with water?
They have taken a basket to the river,
Their barns will be hollow,
Hollow as their souls are hollow.
So will they still wallow in hollowness,
The lords of darkness with their warders of darkness,
Even after they have been placated.
Placate the lords of darkness
With their warders of darkness,
The toads of darkness,
That they may decree that there may be light.
May they?
The pampered by the booties of shame;
May they?
Who are belly-swollen with our blood of travail
May they?
Who feed that we, carbon-choked, may die.
May they?
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