Four Voyages Poem by Alan Gonzalez

An empire in ruins,
where people once thought,
that souls of the living,
could be captured and bought.

The cry of a mother,
that saw as her sons,
were butchered and tortured,
then robbed from her land.

Nor the seas or their tempests,
as hard as they fought,
could stop the spread of torment and mourning they brought.

A girl met a saint,
that was painted with blood,
led by the promise of fortune and power to be had.

The doors were kept open for a brother to come,
yet the day which he showed up the damage was done.

Fires kill forests to prepare for new life,
but man who brought fire, brought terror and strife.

An empire on ruins that bloomed from the old,
where men still keep thinking that life can be sold.



(24/07/09, Gibraltar)