Sail on steel wings to the antipodes
touch down upon the tiny speck so far
from home, tu le connais seulement par des histoires
have only heard its extinct birds in stories
Tu cherches un paradis
but here among the living
there is much more to see
than the in the clouds of heaven
Having reached the limits
of earthly travel, you
recognize the same shit
le même merde partout.
The musical Creole
strikes you as a Franglais
you might understand, but you know
it was first spoken by slaves
like the ones who built our
monuments, worked our fields
le racisme a global
scourge to which no country
lays a singular claim.
amid serene beauty
and exotic birdsong
you find the ordinary
discomforts of home
building taller, bigger
for the rich, displacing
the poor, squeeze la ceinture
on the middle, also facing
family spats, warming seas,
petty bureaucrats and
an increasing unease
with modern society
gadgets and screens distract
us from the things we can’t
confront; we just react
and become plus distant.
Quoi est plus distant que les antipodes?