Poems

Advent Quest

Lord, what a prekah?

Abused, confused, refused or reused.

Prices gwaan up, leaving wages behind.

Everybody seeking his or her own lot

Amidst an economic sphere impacted by war - cold war; nuclear war, food war.

Nuff anger pon di lan

As friends, family and foe

Struggle and hustle against woe;

Some even tief land and sold

As squatters manifold and

Heavy rains and floods wash away

the sandy foundations we laid.

News abound- crash news, gun news

Death stalk us - morn’in noon and night.

Each seem to compete to disappear in 9-day wonder of forgetfulness,

Too much for our souls to bear.

Invention, intervention, Divine One,

We seek a new creation;

Often forgetting our call to participation;

That at your first Advent

In human flesh adorned

Came for our Redemption.

At this our Adventide,

May our hope be renewed

Fill us with love like night with pennie walies light;

And mek joy outburst like Crickets chirping at night

Our souls pat peace like the stillness of the starry skies

Come O Divine One! Come Lord Jesus,

Come Thou Fount of every blessing.

– Dudley McLean II

Forgotten Dream

Like a mirage I become a desire you claim to seek,

Always standing there just barely out of reach.

Like an illusion I am your hopes and vision of yesteryear,

Created, forgotten … then created again. But what do you care!

For you, I change my colours; For you, I change my shape,

I am your prayers unanswered, My God – What does it take?

Why can’t you decide what you need me to be,

I try tirelessly to satisfy your desires, don’t you see?

Now after several decades I have found out the truth,

Your joy is only in the creation of me, there’s nothing to dispute,

I’m like a pebble that a child kicks thoughtlessly down the road,

I am at the mercy of your short-lived attention, which inevitably implodes.

I wish one day you will discover that oasis of peace deep within you,

And that you will see me, not at the surface, but all the way through,

I am nothing more than a dream forgotten. So, take me higher,

Make me more than your unquenchable desires.

– Pearly Words

Unknown

You sneak through my windows at nights,

Hoping that I will just turn off my lights,

You freely take as much as you want,

Leaving me to explore my only chance.

Your singing resonates in my ears,

Leaving me in quandary and great despair.

Oh, spare me your fatuous embrace,

And leave my fortune for the human race

– Jovaine Reid

The Games

Once again it’s the World Cup games

And I love the countries that are playing

But years ago when we were in chains

Would we have felt the same

I love to watch Portugal

For their stars could light up the sky

But isn’t this where slavery began

Yet we hang their flags so high

Senegal could be where I am from

But I am a fan of England

Who brought us to this foreign land

And how can I say Italy and not remember what was done to Selassie

Once again it’s the World Cup games

And I love the countries that are playing

But sometimes I fly my flag with shame

We cry so much for Argentina

But its Messi

For you won’t cry for me Argentina

Asylum for those German Nazis

What happened to the men of my ancestry

I love the beautiful game

But what would our indigenous brothers have thought of Spain

As I watch their flags raised

I wonder if we’re just modern slaves

They enslaved us

But the love of backra still lives in us

– Seon Lewis