I HATE THE WHITE MAN - Roy Harper
Far across the ocean
In the land of look and see
There once was a time
For you and me
Where the winds blow
sweetly
And the easy seas flow still
And where the barefoot dream of
life
Can laugh and cry its fill
Where slot machine confusions
And the plastic universe
Are objects of amusement
In the fiction of
their curse
And where the crazy whiteman
And his teargas happiness
Lies dead and long since buried
By his own fantastic mess
For I
hate the whiteman
And his plastic excuse
For I hate the whiteman
And
the man who turned him loose...
And the reins of coloured thunder
Of
the stallion of the dawn
Ride the coalfire morning
On the beach where
all is born
Where the emperor of meaning
Is burning up his forts
And sits to warm his toes around
A fire made up of useless thoughts
And when the children tempt him
With the riddles of their trance
He flings the flames of solstice
Casting laughs into their dance
And while a crazy whiteman
In the desert of his bones
Lies as
bleached as the paradise
He likes to think he owns
And I hate the
whiteman
In his evergreen excuse
Oh I hate the whiteman
And the man
who turned him loose...
And far across the reaches
Of the drifting
yellow sands
The living carpet wilderness
Forever joins its hands
With heaven hell's attainment
In a surging crest of fire
Where
more than all is thrown upon
The ever lasting pyre
And through the
countless canticles
Of Jason's charcoal fleece
Are sung the songs of
nothing
In the timeless masterpiece
And there stood in the middle
Guess who?
It's the everlasting bust
Built by god's very own
whiteman
As he tries to rule the dust
And I hate the whiteman
In
his doctrinaire refuse
Oh I hate the whiteman
And the man who turned you
all loose...
And the bowels of his city
Have been locked into a safe
Where the spew stains on the sidewalks
Are defenders of his faith
While back inside his kitchen
The bowler hatted, long haired saint
Cleans with soap and water
But it's really just white paint
While his golden headed scandal sheets
Present their daily bite
To give their righteous news-believers
Drugs to keep them white
While outside in the whitewash
Where the guns are always, always
right
A shooting star has summoned
Its dark angel from his night
And I hate the whiteman
And his evergreen excuse
Oh I hate
the whiteman
And the man who turned you all loose
And the man who turned
him loose...
................
Love this one from Roy. It starts like a story and seems to contrast the hippy dream of going back to nature against the so-called western civilisation - but with poetic power and beauty of expression. It flows like 'an easy sea' rich in inventive imagery with its hat off to both Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan but not in any way derivative of them.
Lines I particulary like "the barefoot dream of life" "slot-machine confusion" "the reins of coloured thunder of the stallion of the dawn, rides the coalfire morning where all is born" "where the Emporer of meaning is burning up his forts etc" "whee the spew-stains on the sidewalk are defenders of his faith"
So many good lines and evocative metaphors.
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