A Far Cry from Africa is a powerful poem by the Caribbean poet Derek Walcott. It reflects on the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya (1950s), in which the Kikuyu people rose against British colonial rule — and were brutally suppressed.
The poem begins with a vivid image of violence: "A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt / Of Africa." The Kikuyu, like flies, swarm over the land. But the British response is equally brutal — a "white child" is killed, and the natives are gunned down.
The poet is torn. He is a Black man whose ancestors came from Africa, but he is also a subject of the British Empire — educated in English, writing in English. He asks: "Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?" How can he choose between the Africa of his blood and the English of his tongue?
The poem describes the brutal dance of colonial violence — the "corpses", the "white child", the "anthropological" gaze of the coloniser. The poet is horrified by the violence on both sides.
The final stanza is the most moving. The poet says he loves "the English tongue" — but he also loves the "gorilla" and the "green" of Africa. How can he choose? He refuses to choose. He is both — a hybrid, a hybrid soul, a citizen of two worlds.
The poem is a meditation on identity, colonialism, and the pain of being divided. Walcott refuses simple answers — he embraces his complexity and asks the reader to do the same.