Let's start at the very beginning ...

It started with just one man
isn’t that always how it starts?
Let’s call him Gonzales
as I feel like we know him.

And there’s a beautiful woman.
Not weak or passive
just different and abundant.
Let’s call her Mother, Mother Africa.

The man is an explorer
eager to please.
The woman is a continent
unknown, therefore, a tease.

“Oh how fair a thing it would be”,
Gonzales said to his ring of men,
“If we could go on home
with a few captives for our King.”

So this man and others
sneak onto her shore front
as the moon hides its face
and a vulnerable sky blankets their hunt.

Over her warm sand dunes
they track, through the looming trees,
rouching close to the ground,
working hard not to be seen.

They push on for three or more leagues
seeking out their victim
when fatigued and thirsty,
they spy a naked man alone.

They spread out around their prey
out of sight and ear,
at the signal of a roar
they pounce out of the bush like tigers.

They throw javelins and stones,
all tiredness forgotten,
as these men are incensed
with their ill-gotten gains and game

The Moor doesn’t have a chance
wounded, he’s gagged and bound
pulled through his world to their ship,
away from her, Mother Africa, forever.

It has begun …