Voyage in the Dark

It was as if a curtain had fallen, hiding everything I had
ever known.
Into this white world I was born full grown, ya
All of my treasures behind me.
The key-key of the parrots in the morning
The chittering of sea-starlings bringing les embruns to my cheeks
In the evening.
The ripe red flowers, bursting on the green vine.
A dragonfly cupped in my palm, and
all that freshness.
‘Black tulip’ they have named me,
And dress my hair with peacock feathers
And now I strut, arse out and naked
Brown-skinned goddess all the way from Exotic!
In the interval, I am served split pieces of orange to suck on to the wrinkled husk.
I am a queen here, perched on an elephant’s back,
A beast I have never been near until now.
‘Like home!’ they say, and slap its wooden hide.
My drink of choice these days
is pure English gin:
when the bottle is empty –
Then come, scatter your pearls before me.