LONDON DIARY
2002-03-21
David Livingstone
B. 3.19.1813 Blantyre, Scotland / D. 5.1.1873 Chitambo's Village, Zambia
Wasting Illness
2.14.02 - WESTMINSTER ABBEY / And in the nave (reached—at last—in the "tour's" concluding steps) that space of floor which is the voice of David Livingstone in death asks heaven's blessing on anybody who does anything for Africa, anything to heal "this open sore of the world"—which he would know. Africa! I could have been in you and instead I'm riding on the Underground—the world's wet cherry center of raw pink skins and rheumy eyes and halitosis—a human muck, spreading—another.
Safe among fences, old insights may wither, and whole peoples labor to sugarcoat the basic situation—
but dishonorable acts remain the jackals at the kill, far outnumbering all instances of lion-heartedness.
This is not a black thing.
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