With determined effort she stood
She stood and purposefully shook herself,
With fresh vigour and renewed faith
Thanking God for her improved health.
Her shackles began to fall off:
Shackles of recession and restriction
Not the shackling of her colonial past
But of her own mental conviction.
Convinced she could no longer thrive
She had wallowed in the dust,
Like those nearly not as blessed
Like an ocean going liner overcome by rust.
The rust of mindless dereliction
The rust of abject despondency,
The rust of induced and encouraged poverty
The rust of anarchy and disunity.
Gradually imploding from within
Her once well crafted walls falling inward
Crushing, stifling, choking her occupants;
Her high grades rapidly falling downward.
A past that no longer seemed attainable
A collision that appeared unavoidable,
Behaviour apparently incorrigible
Circumstances hopeless and regrettable.
Economic recession and deep depression
Rapid retardation and swift regression,
A Caribbean Queen lying in desolation
Impervious to hope and consolation.
But slowly she begins to stand to her feet
With renewed and convincing resolve.
Energized in every tissue and sinew
By her children’s encouraging applause.
Rising from the ashes of self-pity
To the full stature of national unity,
Shaking off the apparition of hopelessness
That festers in disillusionment and disunity.
Once a way of life gradually snatched away
Again a realistic prospect for a brighter day,
As Barbados stands again let us stand with her
And celebrate the return of the bajan way.
Stewart Russell © November 2018
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