Like most Negritude poetry, “Black Woman” does not only glorify the present. The poet recalls the past and shows a deep longing for those days gone by. His yearning for the past is most felt when he refers to the love and care showered on him by his gentle African mother.

“In your shadow I have grown up the
gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes.”

However, as we have seen so far, this nostalgic feeling for his childhood goes beyond the personal. It is a longing for the unblemished innocence of pre-colonial Africa. The poet wishes to bring back the pure glory and beauty of the

African landscape and culture before they were decimated by the conquering colonizer.

Now living in Europe, he gets to appreciate more the beautiful climate of his own continent.

“And now high on the sun-baked
pass, at the heart of summer, at the heart of noon,
I come upon you, my Promised Land.
And your beauty strikes me to the heart
like the flash of an eagle.”