Untitled

The young foolish dreamer
Who wishes upon a star
Knows, like twinkling twice
Hope can carry you far

Even skipping and jumping
Along moon beams beyond
Into the heart’s imaginings
No faith in magical wands

Or witch doctor juju
Beneath dark African thatch
That conceals in shadow
A smoky deceptive catch

The celestial Congo sky
And way out milky haze
Too wonderful to behold
At heavenly bodies gaze

Looking for something known
The Southern Cross perhaps
Or a promise of new life
Like the magis’ maps

Nothing cries perfection
Beauty and strength, gone
Eyes once starry dimmed
Oh how her qualities shone

Alone, lonesome once more
The dirt road stretches out
To Saramabila and Kindu
Empty and without doubt

Human flaws exposed, ugly
Like an open cast mine
Diamonds and gold hidden
This scarred earth a crime

That weeping cannot cry out
The soaked up innocent tears
Or the blood of Mai-Mai
For too many years

Base instincts dominate
Sexual appetites ravish
Where savage violence reigns
Love surely must vanish

Vacant eyes mask the smile
Oh how we are weary Lord
Yet little ones still beam
Before fathers bored

Where in this land are you?
Your fabled fulness of life?
For these Congolese and me
Companions in this strife

The final flickering light
Of a planet that is dying
Once lovely, enchanting
Neither known nor crying

When wishing wish again
Let it be as children do
Hopeful and expectant
Light shining through