Africa Seems So Far Away

[Verse]
Africa seems so far away
So far away against the fire light
Is that a part of the conspiracy?
I thought I knew you
Dancing in the embers
But was that maybe necromancy?
And then your eyes which haunted me
Demanding acknowledgement
While you skated frozen lakes in pursuit of the cyclist
You should've known the shaman was fake
It’s the shaman's prerogative
You should've known
No different to the rest
A Joker
No point protesting
No point denying it
Just hand over the shekels and run
But always the fire
Always the intrigue
Always the dark shadow of the shapeshifter
Oh yes there were times when tempers amused
And I turned the soil for needs we must eat
But then the strike of storm
The shattered glass of memory
The wham bam sham of truth
As concrete proof
But proof of what?
Yet still I dig that others
May need sustenance
Oh, Africa seems so very far away
The fire untended
And old man Mankey stopped on the red dust road
He’s a friend but says he'll come no further
For if further he comes, our friendship will be destroyed
He steps no further and only the fire dies in this union
Then do not act surprised when I refuse the shekel
Or raise the palms of my hands in protest
Do not be shocked by tears
Nor resort to the comfort of unresolved fears
Old man Mankey came no further
And our friendship was confirmed
And that was enough
Now I imagine him thieving Conselve
Or silently courting the luminescence of the beach juggling stardust
And here a washed up fish or plastic bag or some such foul detritus
Of another existence to transform into treasure
Everything is treasure to old man Mankey
That is his magic, his gift
Ever transforming
Tapping the embers whilst another Icarus rises in another joy
So when I leave Mankey will not accompany me
Oh I know of our tryst, he black and I white
Know that we share an uncommon commonality
And therein the trickery that is love
But tell me old man
Where my humor now?
You seem so very far away
Listen
Listen
These winds powering the northern hills
Roar like atlantic surf
Nomadic and elemental
Then walk towards me through these lichen-led forests
As I have walked towards you through bleached beaches
Marvel that I am still here
Bring me something of your continent
As I have brought something of mine to you
Then yes perhaps in that gurgle
Of crystal-buried stream
Or in the first tentative breath of dawn
I hear your voice
Why so sad?
Why so sad?
The sunset always so precise
And dark devils rose again in the shadows
That I was left with wolf call and hyena howl
But never was I afraid
For I believed I could contain them
Hold the beasts in my heart
Contain them in my soul
Mankey told me that the monkey skull would protect
Told me that the snake which slid across my back would protect
But what would they protect, old man?
What?
What?
Come now through this rain soaked forest and tell me
What, what would they protect?
Mankey brought a bush rat's corpse to my fire
Cooked it and ate it
He gave me the killing knife
No greater gift was possible
Then was it so wrong that I sought to replicate it?
Giving alms that I too might kill with love
I wanted him to come with me
Come with me beyond the eighteenth tree
But he was right, something would be destroyed
The dog came further
Eighteenth tree
Nineteenth tree
Twentieth tree
And then was attacked
The blood was on me at once
The color of the dust
I washed it away at the airport
But still it was on me
Still is
Mankey waited in the shade
Still waits
Then was it conspiracy or necromancy
That together we had beaten the fire?
Oh but why harp on about lost continents?
Why shun the solace of our own landscapes?
Simple, we deny them and become removed
Never do we acknowledge the soil that we are
Always entity
Always identity
Never the water
Never the fire
Oh dream on you, creators of realities
Tell me I haven't seen former melt
Or man become woman
Or woman become serpent
Tell me I haven't witnessed translation
Tell me there is no deep grove of silence
Tell me there is no magic
Then tell me also that there is no africa
We abuse with reason
Curse the fruit that we might steal the seed
Heresy and denial
No more, no less
That is what we defile in our need for substance
I thought I knew you
And that in itself was conspiracy
I thought I knew you
And that was love unconditional
No contract
Only the undoing
Only the destruction
Oh but now I tire
I call on Rambo and Baudelaire in their thirst for disillusion
But maybe I do seek form seek substance
Maybe they will reject me
Ours was a conspiracy
Touch of body
Touch of soul
Then where the travesty?
What the corruption?
Should I lay naked?
Should everything by stripped from me?
Well then tear me away
I allow you
Devastate me
I allow you
Demand everything that I am yet still I will exist
Torn, devastated and dissolved
I am the poet
I await the humors of your love
Yet, yet
Africa seems so very far away