Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-16T10:17:54.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

‘Indian Ocean is Crying’ (Poem)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2020

Get access

Summary

I stand at the silver sand beaches

Where Francis Xavier was buried,

Looking at Pillar of Vasco da Gama,

The point at which this son of Spain

Hopped to the land mass at city of Malindi,

I look at my dear love, the beauteous Indian Ocean,

As her tidal face struggles under the soft rays,

Of the tired sun on the verge of its soonest set,

She looks annoyed and down cast, O! My love,

What happened to you there in deep seas?

Cheer up love, for you’re the anchor of my heart,

Regret not a little of those who vilify your face,

With tanks of oil leaking into your heart,

As they scamper here and there, like mad ones,

In search of Dolphins, squids and octopus,

To kill them merciless for money and power,

They know not how you cry and shed torrents,

Of grievous dears as they kill your sires,

Forgive them dear sweet heart,

They know not what they are doing,

Already they gave you a miserable name;

This name Indian Ocean, as if you are proud of it,

Or as if happily in love with castes of India,

I have re-named you the love ocean,

With a promise never to pollute you,

Neither will I give way to ships of slavery,

To cross your body with the crying slaves

Captured from hinterland of poor Africa,

In transit to Arabia for hard labour,

I will keep you clean and save my love,

For all the days I will be with you,

I pray you preserve your volcanic anger,

Lest you foment Tsunamis and Tornadoes,

To the innocent island and seaside dwellers,

I pray darling you don't go ahead,

With the foul idea of swallowing Mombasa islet,

Forgive her for the sake of our love we have,

Between you and me, as asunder we go not

Type
Chapter
Information
ALT 38 Environmental Transformations
African Literature Today
, pp. 159 - 160
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×