Our Crime Scene

Scaling new heights

Or plunging deeper depths,

The crime level in Barbados

Makes one upset.

Whether tourist or local

It really doesn’t matter

Gun crime in Barbados

Is a colossal bother.

Eight murders committed

And it is still January:

Four men and four women

This is cause for worry.

Quite a lot of recommendations

But no remedy in sight,

The frequent hail of bullets

Puts several to flight.

The gun has accounted

For five of the dead,

Sorry, not really the gun

It’s the trigger-happy instead.

The gun is now the way

To quickly settle a conflict

Hence, no longer the long talk,

That doesn’t quite fit.

It is apparent to me

Money and drugs are involved

So for a deal gone wrong

The gun is the resolve.

An adjustment in the duties

Of two Cabinet Ministers

Was the most recent attempt

To deal with the monsters.

It is the tip of the iceberg

If I may coin that phrase

And when I read the court pages

I am particularly dazed.

It is mostly the small man

Or those at the bottom end

But the ones truly responsible

Cannot be found my friend.

The guns are coming in,

They are not made in this place

But the importers are operating

Such that there is no trace.

Let me explain a little

By what I mean by trace:

Turning a blind eye

Is as effective as turning one’s face.

You cannot tell me

How well I can or cannot see

Especially if cowered by a threat

Or offered some money.

Drugs, guns and money

Are like three peas in a pod

And in our beloved Barbados

They provide many a job.

Filthy lucre some will say

But it is income nevertheless,

Big bucks and quick bucks

With such many are impressed.

When I started this poem

It was murder number eight,

I left for a bit and before I returned

Number nine was on the plate.

Some days have been allotted

To have an emphasis on prayer

Commencing on February the first

And to continue for three days.

These murders are so senseless

To all that can think

As the lawless and thoughtless

Bring our country to the brink.

As a country we have strayed

From the rudiments of God

And we are paying with our life

Having connived with the Fraud.

Prayer might help

It might very well do

But we need to get back to God,

That is my view; is it yours too?

Stewart Russell © January 2019