Awaken, Sleeping Giant

 

Awaken, Sleeping Giant

 

Wake up, why do you not stir

From such profound slumber, the world

Of gods and men, scarcely recognize your kind

Maybe you fell

Down a crack hole, and banged your head

At birth.

Your umbilical was buried where you stand

In pure alluvium, now reddened

With the blood of your brothers

While you scheme rich hopes

And dispense deferred dreams.

 

Your pride is without substance

The crown of your head

Sun-drenched, delirious from the heat

While sleeping, they succumb

To the occult mist

That, each night, marches across the land

Like a foreign army forever lurking

In the murky depths of Korle Lagoon

At dusk we obediently rise

To raise the banner of national pride

And declare the lagoon a national shrine.

 

The tourists come and pay allegiance

At the shrine, and we offer them our best

Ornaments, foods and rare spices

All gathered from foreign lands

And sated, fumigated with toxic fumes

And the stench of our revered open sewers

We cart them off to crystal palaces

Inhabited by the rich and powerful

To make them wish they were back at home.

 

 

Reviews

[Ravenskald]

Rather dark, but interesting all the same

The final stanza
"The tourists come and pay allegiance
At the shrine, and we offer them our best
Ornaments, foods and rare spices
All gathered from foreign lands
And sated, fumigated with toxic fumes
And the stench of our revered open sewers
We cart them off to crystal palaces
Inhabited by the rich and powerful
To make them wish they were back at home."

Is almost a threat, we will drown you in opulance and luxury and then you will know fear ..

~Raven