Bagamoyo

Here is the stone I dreamed full of voices
echoing the clink of chains in a ship's hold
stinking of sweat that dried without seeing daylight.
Here is the stone that listened
where no ear of flesh would hear the captive's cry, the driven slave,
stone that captured the crack of the foreman's whip.
Here is the stone I dreamed dancing to no drum.
Here is the great heavy stone that sat in the center of the slave mart
round rock crowned with rusty rings and broken links.
Here is the auctioneer's altar, the seat of barter, the seal of sale,
the coast where ships waited, holds hungry for human cargo.
Here is the stone where they laid down their hearts.
Their voices fill my dreams.

Bagamoyo is a city on the East African Coast that was one of the principal ports of the slave trade. The name of the city means "here I lay down my heart."

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside