Highways of salt/pathways of struggle: The Sahara legacy
Location
They make no fanfare traversing the lands
Using the night sky’s cool cover
The ancient ones followed the stars
To hidden oases scattered across the desert
Driving camel teams laiden with prized commodities
Spices, textiles, jewels, metals and salt
The Sahara, a no man’s land
Only something to get through
It offers nothing but hardship, death and salt
Centuries old tracks invisible to the untrained eye
Pass the unmarked graves of millions over time
Succumbing to the heat and the jinns
Traders, travellers, slaves and warriors
Pilgrims, princes and kings have ventured here
Like lines cut by a river the pathways seldom change
Borders drawn by man in the sand
Do little to stop the flow
Of those wanting to escape what they can’t control
Lories loaded with human flesh
Traverse the miles of nothingness
Having no idea if they will ever see the sea
Risking life and limb in the hands of traffickers
Placing their bets on a suicide squad
For a chance to live again
How destitute have we made the world
In our race for power and wealth
The new age of slavery is dawning
Scattering nations far and wide
Driving humanity through hell
Littering the desert with skeletons turning to salt