Listen to poem:
Stormbound in Trinidad
Hear the shout of “SEA!” where ends the land
down Manzanilla way on windward shore -
on coconut road, on golden turtle sand
and follow a far trail of palms to its door.
Upon old plantation footprint I stood,
coco lillies and beach flowers I’ve smelled,
when beachcomber island castaway driftwood
my mother’s full and cradled arms held.
In seine nets from Cocal to Mayaro
villagers pull carite, wahoo, mackerel, and shark,
and dig for chip-chip and watch fireflies glow
as bright the pitch-oil lamps burn after dark.
Like leatherbacks in Grand Riviere I will return
before my oil and lamp do cease to burn,
when eerie is the billfish feeding ground
and missing are the pelicans stormbound.
Gaze out to sea upon blown rig and sail
in our fright’s strand on stormwatch to the south,
heed the mighty whirlwind, its scything trail -
Galleon’s Passage to the Serpent’s Mouth.
See the bended trees on coconut row
when lightning fork flashing turns night to day -
let it thunder, let it rage, let it blow
across river and swamp in Cocos Bay.
When jittery estate cattle away are led
and heron, egret, petrel, ibis, and frigate bird
take flight for cover when all else have fled
till a cockcrow at early dawn is heard.
Like leatherbacks in Grand Riviere I will return
before my oil and lamp do cease to burn,
when eerie is the billfish feeding ground
and missing are the pelicans stormbound
Written: July 1996
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