Talipariti elatum
Latin like sugar on my tongue
Or hip curving music
That cuatros make
Lifting the soul above the common height
Where I have seen this Blue Mahoe
And flowers like an hibiscus kite
Dancing in the morning light.
Talipariti elatum
I want to know the meaning of your name
You who did the first Taino's heart inflamed
And made him pined
To caress the flesh and muscle of your bone.
Talipariti elatum
The model for the vision here
Changing flower with the changing light
That goes from color to color
So that whatever change may come
We are Talipariti elatum
We are Jamaica
A strong people and a proud land
We can fish with our bark
Or find food better
In the beauty of a flower.
And when you build
Remember us
Great projects come from simple dust
Our heart is wood, strong and good
The oils from us that come
Talipariti elatum.
Categories:
mahoe, political, heart, heart,
Form: Free verse
My island slept for years in the care
Of Tainos, Caribs and Arawak
Their canoes on the sea breast bare
Dreaming of milk from manioc
The swamps unscarred, trees secure
Batos and songs rinsed in the azure.
Then came doom laden caravels came
Prancing with Conquistadores
Their swords to slaughter, then to shame
The Ave Marias slutted by whores
Whose blazing balls of canons denied
The sufficient death of the crucified.
My island was the Mary Magdalene held
For ransome in the frying lust
For gold, the continental wars spelled
A trembling virginity in the dust
A lost of idyllic grace, where bloody men
Sowed the evil inherited again and again.
From Spanish to French, Spanish to British
How callous is all history
A spectre publishing the marginal brutish
Shrivelled glory of identity.
And still my Mary, her alabastor box a gift
This tropic wonder, this lignum vitae of thrift
From empty tomb to broken hearted disciple
Evanglizes the Mahoe dawn
Over the Blue Mountain where peace ripple
On the motto, still the fawn
In the forest brings the stag to court
This island stands ready to file a good report.
Categories:
mahoe, places
Form: Verse