AFRICA

In those confused, bemused primitive ages of turmoil

When the creator was himself unsatisfied with his creation

Making and breaking his new-formed creation again and again

Impatient; never in the affirmative about its future shape

It was then that the violent ocean from that ancient newly formed

Earth 's bosom snatched you away - Africa.

Guarded, almost imprisoned in that dense canopy of forestation

In the deep dungeons where even the sun's rays were forbidden

There for ages you gathered those unexplored mysteries, hidden treasures

And when you had just started to understand the messages of nature’s magic

Waking up to your largess, results of your tremendous size

Then trying to resolve your secrets

Building an aura of invincibility, of grand unknown powers

About to be acknowledged by the world.

Beneath that dark veil

Unknown were your human races

Uncared for, neglected races in utter negligence.

This silence was shattered by the invaders from far lands

In irons and weaponry of great strength

Sharper in cruelty than those ferocious leopards in your afforested space.

Blinder in pride than the regions in your dense undergrowth.

Coming with the barbaric greed of the civilized as they did.

Baring there shameless inhuman traits

Turning your moist humid forest paths

With their unstoppable bloodbaths

Drenching your soil with your own innocent warm raw blood.

Trampled by their civilized foot

All that was left was the unbearable formless mass;

Slaughtered at will; molested;

The insult, the shame, the pain left an indelible

Scar on your rich land's history forever.

Across the oceans at about the same period were

Ringing the bells of the grand temples.

People worshipping their gods day and night.

Babies lay in their mother's laps

and poets composed sonnets on the vanities and beauties of this earth
 

Today at this hour on the western horizon when the day ends

When the wild animals come out of their dens, when the sun sets.

Let us all stand up in silence and pay our respects and homage to

Those nameless million human souls who perished

“Forgive us all”, let us all say in unison for all our excesses

Let that be the last statement of our life

In this age of mindless violence.

Translated from 

Rabindranath Tagore’s Africa

by Shamit Bagchi