OL' HIGUE
by Wordsworth McAndrew

Ol' woman wid de wrinkled skin,
 Leh de ol' higue wuk begin.
Put on you fiery disguise,
Ol' woman wid de weary eyes
Shed you swizzly skin.

Ball o' fire, raise up high
Raise up till you touch de sky.
Land 'pon top somebody roof
Tr'ipse in through de keyhole - poof!
Open you ol' higue eye.

Find de baby where 'e lie
Change back faster than de eye.
Find de baby, lif de sheet,
Mek de puncture wid you teet',
Suck de baby dry.

Before 'e wake an' start to cry
Change back fast, an' out you fly.
Find de goobie wid you skin
Mek de semidodge, then - in!
Grin you ol' higue grin.

In you dutty powder gown
Next day schoolchildren flock you round.
"Ol' higue, ol' higue!" dey hollerin' out
Tek it easy, hold you mout'
Doan leh dem find you out.

Dey gwine mark up wid a chalk
Everywhere wheh you got to walk
You bridge, you door, you jealousie
But cross de marks an' leh dem see
Else dey might spread de talk.

Fly across dis window sill,
Why dis baby lyin' so still?
Lif' de sheet like how you does do,
Oh God! Dis baby nightgown blue!
Run fo' de window sill!

Woman you gwine run or not?
Doan mind de rice near to de cot.
De smell o' asafoetida
Like um tek effect 'pon you.
You wan' get kyetch or what?

But now is too late for advice,
'Cause you done start to count de rice
An' if you only drop one grain
You must begin it all again.
But you gwine count in vain.

Whuh ah tell you?

Day done, light an' rice still mountin'
Till dey wake an' kyetch you countin'
An' pick up de big fat cabbage broom
An' beat you all around de room.
Is now you should start countin'

Whaxen! Whaxen! Whaxen! Plai!
You gwine pay fo' you sins befo' you die.
Lash she all across she head
You suck me baby till um dead?
Whaxen! Whaxen! Plai!

You feel de manicole 'cross you hip?
Beat she till blood start to drip.
"Ow me God! You bruk me hip!
Done now, nuh? Allyou done!"

Is whuh you sayin' deh, you witch?
Done? Look, allyou beat de bitch.
Whaxen! Whaxen! Pladai! Plai!
Die, you witch you. Die.
Whaxen! Whaxen! Plai!

DEATH OF A COMRADE
by Martin Carter

Death must not find us thinking that we die
too soon, too soon
our banner draped for you
I would prefer
the banner in the wind
Not bound so tightly
in a scarlet fold
not sodden, sodden
with your people's tears
but flashing on the pole
we bear aloft
down and beyond this dark, dark lane of rags.
Now, from the mourning vanguard moving on
dear Comrade, I salute you and I say
Death will not find us thinking that we die.

British soldier, man in khaki
careful how you walk
My dead ancestor Accabreh
is groaning in his grave

At night he wakes and watches
with fire in his eyes
Because you march upon his breast
and stamp upon his heart.

Although you come in thousands from the sea
Although you walk like locusts in the street
Although you point your gun straight at my heart
I clench my fist above my head; I sing my song of
Freedom!

How Do I Love Thee

West Indian Style
Author Unknown

Let me count the ways ....
You are the essence in my mauby
De fish in my fishcakes
I love you love you dearly
You are the lardoil in my bakes.

You are the coconut in my sweetbread
De pigtail in my rice
Just like piece of curry goat head
I will love you till I dead.

You are the sardine in my gravy
The dumplings in my soup
I love you more than gambling
Yes I love you bad fah true

Like banana leaf around my conkie
I'll be always close to you
Sweet like sugar in your green tea
I'll do anything for you.

You are the sauce around my Cou Cou
Hot like sweetbread when it done
In my arms I love to hold you
Just like a glass a rum.

I will stick to you like dandruff
Like the corns upon your toes
Like the fat around your belly
I'll be everywhere you go.

Cause you are my black pudding
And I know I am your souse
When you call I will coming running
Like when a boar cat see a mouse.

Oh my pepper on my pork chop
Sweet like sorrel when it mix
When my hands caress your body
You feel just like a couple-six.

You are sweeter than a snowcone
I will give you all I own
You are sweeter than a hambone
Soft and sweet like piece'o'pone.

No one can take me from you
Not in this life or death.

The Virgin Mary had a baby boy
The Virgin Mary had a baby boy
The Virgin Mary had a baby boy
And they say that his name is Jesus
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,
Oh yes, believer, oh, yes, believer
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,

The angels sang when the baby was born
The angels sang when the baby was born
The angels sang when the baby was born
And they sang that his name is Jesus
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,
Oh yes, believer, oh, yes, believer
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,

The shepherds came where the baby was born
The shepherds came where the baby was born
The shepherds came where the baby was born
And they say that his name is Jesus
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,
Oh yes, believer, oh, yes, believer
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,

The wise men saw when the baby born
The wise men saw where the baby born
The wise men went where the baby born
And they said that his name is Jesus
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,
Oh yes, believer, oh, yes, believer
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,

They saw the star over Bethlehem
They saw the star over Bethlehem
The trailed that star over Bethlehem
To the crib of the child named Jesus
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,
Oh yes, believer, oh, yes, believer
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,

They found a manger in Bethlehem
They found a manger in Bethlehem
And in that manger in Bethlehem
They worshipped the child named Jesus
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,
Oh yes, believer, oh, yes, believer
He come from the Glory,
He come from the Glorious Kingdom,

Not I With This Torn Shirt

They call here,
- Magnificent Province!

Province of mud!
Province of flood!
Plantation - feudal coast!

Who are the magnificent here?
Not I with this torn shirt
But they, in their white mansions
By the trench of blood!

I tell you
This is no magnificent province
No El Dorado for me
No streets paved with gold
But a bruising and battering for self preservation
In the white dust and the grey mud

I tell you and I tell no secret -
Now is long past time for worship
Long past time for kneeling
With clasped hands at altars of poverty.

THE LEGEND OF KAIETEUR

-  set to music by Philip Pilgrim

1. Now Makonaima, the Great Spirit dwelt
In the huge mountain rock that throbbed and felt
The swift black waters of Potaro's race
Pause on the lip, commit themselves to space
And dive the half mile to the rocks beneath.
Black were the rocks with sharp and angry teeth
And on those rocks the eager waters died,
Above the gorge that seethed and foamed and hissed
Rose, resurrected into lovely mist.

The rock He lived in towered a half mile high
So that it seemed a rival to the sky
And over it this living mist He drew
To curtain off Divinity from view.
He gave it too the privilege to choose
To take the glory of the rainbow's hues
To wear at morning, and for changed delight
The marvelous sunsets of the tropic night.
From day to day, behind this rainbowed screen,
The Father, the inscrutable, unseen,
Would ponder on His domain of the earth
And all the nations He had given birth

And He caused flowers to weave upon the ground
Their rich embroideries, and He set around
The village where each tribe worked all day long
A veritable tapestry of song

 2. From birds that in the branches built their bowers
And spent within the shade quick musical hours,
So every wind blew peace and fortune down
From the sweet heavens, and everywhere was sung
A song of praise to the Great spirit above
That fathered them in kindliness and love

And every moon each tribe would come and float
Upon the stream a sacrificial boat
New-carved and painted, laden with fish and fruit
And watch it gain speed as it neared and shoot
Over the rock into the gorge below.

And as the waters, so the centuries flow
Until the savage Caribishi came
And put the Patamona to the flame.
They came by night and took them in their sleep
Slaughtered the guards and drove away the sheep
Ravished the women, burnt their huts and shields,
A few, the merest remnant, took to flight
And under shelter of the friendly night
Escaped from the pursuing torches sent
To slay them in the caches where they went.
These took the terrible tidings of the raid
To the far camp their restless kin had made
On the Potaro-that the feud was awake
And counsel what defenses they could make

3. Old Kaie was chief in counsel.   He was wise
Over a hundred seasons had those eyes
See in their passage.   Time had made the dim
But with its wisdom compensated him.
He knew the cures for all men's ills and fears
And he had words for women in their tears
To comfort them.   He set all day and talked
Unto the tribe, for painfully he walked
On legs like rotten trunks wherein chigoes
Had nested and made caves of all his toes


Just now he counseled, "Since our arms are small
I and another to the mountain wall
Will go to question Makonaima's will
What He requires that we must fulfill
In sacrificial offerings.   He is kind
His orders will chase fear out of our mind."
Then someone murmured "But can Kaie's feet stand
The troublesome journey through steep, rocky land?"
Flame sprang to Kaie's eyes, "Will you never learn,
From what the mind wills, body will not turn?" So the next morning labored up the slope
Kaie and the one other with their ropes

 
4. Strapped round their backs, their bags of magic art
With all the stuff that in their spells had part.
Kaie's feet oft staggered and the westering sun
Was swallowed up by night, the day was done
Before they came upon the slab of stone
That ends the path to the Great Spirit's home Alone

They stood while the vast starry night was full
Of falling water.   Kaie felt his pull
His arm.   "Look there," "Yes, Makonaima's birds,
They are His messengers, they speak His words,
These small black cruiser birds, they fly in flocks
And feed on lana seed among the rocks.  " And now the birds made swoopings round the pair
And chattering, brushed Kaie's cheek and kissed his ear.

Twice, thrice, they did this.   Then with sudden flight
They wheeled and veered off through the seeing Night.
Then in a voice that swelled and sank and broke
With the great wealth of joy he felt, Kaie spoke
"Oh, great is Makonaima and the words
That he has spoken by message of his birds.
I must go down the passage of the river.

5. That I may sit before His face for ever
In His great house, the everlasting rock.
And He has promised that no harm, no shock
Shall bruise our people, for His Watch and ward
Shall circle us and He shall be our guard.
I am accounted for a sacrifice
For all the tribe.   You with your younger eyes
Shall see the offering that you may tell
How boldly Kaie clasped such a death, how well
He lost his life to save his threatened race
And shadow them with the eternal peace."

So in the morning, while the dim mist wrestled
And the fall thundered and the deep gorge seethed
That other sat at vantage by the wall
And scanned the river to the waterfall.
He saw the sun o'er-peep the world and throw
Tide after tide of golden ray and glow

 6. Against the fall, flood full on its attire,
Its misty veil, and catch that mist afire.
Amazed, he stared.   The opalescent light
Deepened and sank and changed.   Then in his sight
Below the point that Kaie had bid him mark
He saw Kaie in a sacrificial bark.

The frail boat bobbed and bucked within the grip
Of the live waters that hurried it to the lip
Over the abyss.   Kaie then raised his tall
Huge bulk in the boat and towered over the fall,
A cruciform over the flaming mist.
Then with a force that nothing could resist
The boat rent all that misty veil in two,
Drawing a dark line down the rainbow hue.
But of Kaie's body never showed a trace,
He sat with Makonaima, before his face.