A thought-provoking storoem about a life of comfort versus life in the wild. |
At Orlando’s Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, a guest is offered convenient views of African herbivores – antelopes, giraffes, and zebras – with no predators to dodge, all living serenely within artificial savannahs forever more. Savannah – such a melodic, pleasing word, that when heard by me always evokes warmest memories of boyhood, when vacations were at Savannah Beach in the sun getting an absurd tan from hours swimming, crabbing, surfing in the vast ocean. Across this immense expanse lies Africa, from whence came the ancestors of the Disney animals, captured and enslaved like black Africans centuries prior, hence- forth to live an altered lifestyle in America. Now nurtured in a man-made compound, these herbivores’ lives would seem ideal – pampered, safe, never knowing either starvation or thirst, never hunted by lion or man. But, do they never dream of running across the vast African plain, being free once more? If given the chance to decide, would they now be willing to trade for a return to Africa instead of this American life fate has made? Please visit my poetry website: http://www.gillelands.com/poetry/ |