ELEMENTAL

there was once a large verdant island
that floated upon an emerald sea
humid tropical forests blanketed her curvaceous terrain
home to arboreal lizards and fabulous parrots
eagles soared with majesty
over her erect mountain peaks
lush fertile valleys spread out
across her flat warm belly
moist mangrove swamps
nestled among her fragrant groin
saltwater crocodiles and flamingos grazed plentifully
on the azure lakes and lagoons
that beaded her perspiring flesh
her bunched petticoat coastline
harboured numerous sheltered bays and coves
where one day a large vessel laid greedy anchor
the strange covetous pale-skinned gods
who navigated her waters
christened her hispaniola
though to her erstwhile inhabitants
she was known as ayiti - land of high mountains
as the old world encountered the new
as two far-removed human civilizations clashed
it was as if two adjacent techtonic plates had collided
ayiti never stood a chance
once the small-talk was over
her despoiling commenced
the avaricious gods demanded daily tributes
precious metal from her peoples
on pain of detaching both their hands
missionaries arrived to civilize the restless natives
flogging the children to cast out the devil in them
their numbers were ravaged by infectious diseases
a thousand sharpened axes
laid waste to ayiti's forested hills
her technicolour parrots and prehistoric iguanas
were exterminated
in their place tobacco and sugar plantations
were tattooed across her body
as far as the beady eye could see
there were sweaty open-air factories
worked by stooping black men with scarred shoulders
and a terrible look of fear in their eyes
decades and centuries passed
and as the old world self-imploded
in internecine warfare
the fearful black men
whose ancestors had been torn from their homeland
rose up and demanded sovereignty of their violated ayiti
still somehow remembered by her old name
though the blood of the ayitians
had almost all been spilt
and much diluted among their descendents
self-determination was fought for and won
but proved to be slippery and elusive
for yet more lustful powerful and greedy men
were keen to sublimate the fabled land of mountains
to their own needs and desires
a new occupation no longer in the name of christ
but under a more sophisticated guise
liberty equality and fraternity
good governance
humanitarian intervention
and so the dwellers of rich fertile ayiti
remained as they had been for so long
impoverished, disenfranchised and hungry
until two techtonic plates deep under the ocean
clashed once more
in a ferocious seismic gesture
that shook haiti asunder
and left her dying