The Whole Sorrowful Land

Last year, I shared a very eye-opening piece on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its tragic history of war, colonialism, slavery, and exploitation. (The post included, btw, a link to Joseph Conrad's awesome Heart of Darkness, from which comes the title of this post [see below for the excerpt.]): http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2012/12/heart-of-darkness.html
   Africa may seem a continent away (*smile), but what goes on there is important to us all. It is also important to understand why what is going on there (or anywhere) is going on. In this case, it started in the late 15th century (story, video): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24396390
   Here's the passage from which I got the title for this post: "She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her
deliberate progress. And in the hush that had fallen suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land, the immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul." Can writing ever get any better than that?!?