Under Control?

 

 

Don’t worry about how it looks

We have it under control,

We’ll wrestle crime to the ground

You are safe on our roads.

 

We know who they are:

Meaning, the ones with the guns,

We won’t leave any stone unturned

Until this gun-thing is done.

 

It’s under control, we assure you,

Do not be alarm,

Go about your business as usual,

You’ll come to no harm.

 

They are taking out one another

They are not concerned with you,

It is people like themselves

That are getting their due.

 

All this in essence

From the AG and Top-cop

But it is hard to feel comfortable

When it has become this hot.

 

 

And I don’t mean the temperature

Because that is cooling down

And this is what happens

When this time comes around.

 

I mean the shootings and killings:

Thirty-nine are dead so far:

Thirty are gun related

And criminals raising the bar.

 

It is like the wild, wild west

When gunslingers ruled the town

And many a sheriff was made

To look like a circus clown.

 

There were some, nevertheless,

That brought towns under control,

They were fearless town-marshals

That were just as bold.

 

Many a western movie watcher

Can testify of these men

That were as fast as lightning

Bringing gunslingers to an end.

 

 

Under control

Was easily defined back then

But in this Barbadian context

There is a problem.

 

I find it difficult, my fellow citizens

To reconcile the Top-cop’s words

And that it is under control

To me, seems absurd.

 

For every strategy employed

It appears to get worse

And even commuters are threatened

By this out-of-hand curse.

 

These gun-toting criminals

Are poking fun at our police

And the Police Service seem clueless

Is the general belief.

 

This scourge appeared contained

Among the criminal element

But the winds appear shifting

Given a recent event.

 

They are stopping at nothing

To assert their control

And with more sophisticated weapons

They are brazened and bold.

 

 

Who is really in control?

That is the question to ask,

It doesn’t look like the Police Service,

Are they up to the task?

 

They have undisclosed strategies

Versus the criminals’ openness

And I desperately pray

For an end to this mess.

  

Dear Mr. Police Commissioner,

I hear your tough talk

But the average Barbadian citizen

Is feeling more distraught.

 

They are fearing for their lives

And the lives of their loved ones

And just like the COVID pandemic,

They wish this were gone.

 

 

We know what under control means

And what you say does not fit

So, see what you can do about this scourge,

And rid us of it.

 

Stewart Russell © November 11, 2022