A Far Cry From Africa [1962]

                                            -Derek Walcott

A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt

(The Poet introduces the tribe of Kikuyu (Kenya) by telling us of an activity over there. Tawny pelt is a brownish orange skin perhaps of an animal). A wind is upon the skin of Africa)

Of Africa. Kikuyu, quick as flies

(Kikuyu is a native tribe of Kenya)

Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt.

(Veldt an open grassland of Africa. Flies feed greedily on the blood (on the dead bodies) caused by uprisings.)

Corpses are scattered through a paradise.

(Paradise here implies the supreme beauty of Africa. Note how paradise is paralleled with corpses which implies the catastrophic effect of Mau Mau uprisings.)

Only the worm, colonel of carrion, cries:

‘Waste no compassion on these separate dead!’
(The worms which feed on the corpses have no compassion; implying the dead (one referred here) indeed deserve such nasty treatment. Carrion refers to the decaying flesh of dead animals. The poet parallels dead human beings as animals in order to show the savagery in battles. Note the alliteration when the worm is referred to as colonel (of a superior rank) who has full power over the dead flesh)

Statistics justify and scholars seize

The salients of colonial policy,

(When huge masses are killed, their deaths are justified by the others in power (The Mau Mau uprisings (1950s) against the British Imperialists, where both parties lost huge number of lives). Scholars think and talk about the issues, the irony being they themselves at times support the cause or back the people (the colonizers in this case) who bring death upon the rest. Note the use of ‘salients’, the plural form of the adjective which means significant aspects. ‘The salients of colonial policy’ can be understood as a bitter satire as for ‘colonial policy’ was never meant to cause harm to the backward natives instead ‘civilize’ them to the standards of the colonizers but what happened was exactly the opposite)

What is that to the white child hacked in bed?

To savages, expendable as Jews?

(Now the most important thing to understand here is that Derek Walcott was neither supporting the brutality implemented by the colonizers nor approving the cruelty of African natives towards them. ‘White child hacked in bed’ refers to the attack by the natives to the British colonizers and ‘to savages, expendable as Jews?’ is a question to the whites with a further reference to the Hitler’s concentration camps that took lives of over six million Jews)

Threshed out by beaters, the long rushes break

In a white dust of ibises whose cries

Have wheeled since civilization’s dawn

From the parched river or beast-teeming plain.

(In the second stanza, the Poet begins afresh with much of animal imagery. Initially, a native practise is introduced where the grain is separated by beating it suggesting a constructive manual labour for life. The Poet then refers to the beginning of time when the sound of ibises (large wading birds with long curved beaks) ‘have wheeled’ in the skies. Note the combination of sound and sight when cries of ibises and their movement (wheeled or rotated) are interlinked. Furthermore, animals rush or migrate to places where they can survive with water facilities and other surviving conditions. Note, initial human civilization too began on this notion and rivers and water bodies were among the first places where human beings settled down)

The violence of beast on beast is read                

As natural law, but upright man

Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain.

(The poet tells that the violence of an animal to another animal is nature’s law. But he is critical of the fact that human beings follow the same path and are cruel and heartless to their own brethren. They seek sadistic pleasure (satirically divinity here) by causing pain to others.)

Delirious as these worried beasts, his wars

Dance to the tightened carcass of a drum,

(Mad and worried of being hunted down, humans too attack their counterparts causing death and bloodsheds. ‘Tightened carcass’ refers to the skin of any animal used to cover the mouth of a drum. Note that ‘his wars dance’ has a significance in the African context. Most of the tribes indulge in traditional dance with drums on various ceremonial occasions which also include occasions before battles)

While he calls courage still that native dread        

Of the white peace contracted by the dead.

(‘He’ is referred to as anyone who is a part of this tribe. Here ‘he’ asks or prays for courage and bravery because he fears the ‘White peace’ that was contracted or signed by his ancestors. ‘Still that native dread of the white peace’ refers to the fear that the natives have of the white people who will eventually influence their tradition and culture. ‘White peace’ is a notion implying ‘white terror’ as the colonizers never did what they intended or what they told the ancestors of the tribes.)

Again brutish necessity wipes its hands

Upon the napkins of a dirty cause, again

A waste of our compassion, as with Spain,

(‘Brutish necessity’ are cruel needs that wipes its hands upon the napkins of dirty issues. The Poet suggests that dirty politics is played for the accomplishment of the cruel needs of colonizers. ‘A waste of our compassion, as with Spain’ brings the colonial example of Spain into picture. Spain initially colonised parts of America in the 16^th century. When Columbus tried to find a sea route to India and ended up on an island which was later named West Indies, the initial conquest of Spain began. This episode marked the beginning of European colonization to the rest of the world)

The gorilla wrestles with the superman.

(Gorilla is a symbolic representation of African black-skinned who wrestles with the superman or the white skinned. Superman denotes the progress of the whites in terms of technology and knowledge)

I who am poisoned with the blood of both,

Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?

(The Poet is in a dilemma as he holds dual cultural heritage i.e. blood of both whites and blacks run through his vein. ‘Poisoned’ refers to the contamination of blood with a history of massacres and acts of inhumaneness.)

I who have cursed

The drunken officer of British rule, how choose

Between this Africa and the English tongue I love?

(The Poet curses the ‘drunken officer of British rule’ who is a drunk man in the sense he gives inhumane instructions. Again he expresses his dilemma in choosing between Africa and English (or the language of the colonizers) the medium of language he loves the most)

Betray them both, or give back what they give?

How can I face such slaughter and be cool?

How can I turn from Africa and live?

(He is confused whether to betray them both by refusing either cultures. He wishes to ‘give back what they give’ in a sense either giving away the language of colonizers (English or French) or learn of the language of the Africans. Note here, the Poet cannot stand the brutality of the colonizers and for him it is tough to give away their language as well. But without doing that he believes he will turn away from Africa and in such situation it would be again tough for him to live. Derek Walcott indirectly represents the complexity of a situation with these lines)