Happy Independence/Republic Day

 

 

Well, we have to celebrate both,

These markers of achievement:

Our Independence of 56 years

And our Republic accomplishment.

 

 

We have to acknowledge God

Who has been the people’s guide

And I plead, I beg, I beseech,

Don’t let us leave His side.

 

For opinion is rife

But the facts are still the truth,

Count forward from 56 years ago

And there you have your proof.

 

Change is absolutely necessary

Only when change is necessary

But some of the changes we often make

Are not always of necessity.

 

And so, I offer a caution this day,

The 30^th day of November,

Do not take Almighty God for granted

But His many blessings, remember!

 

 

And as we celebrate this day

Let us not forget those of the past

That labored and toil with sweat and tears

Remaining faithful to the task.

 

Slaves some might have been,

Thus, forced labour without a choice

But others used their freedom to our benefit

And today we have a voice.

 

A voice that should not be silent

When confronted by stark injustice,

A voice that champions our God-given rights

Whether in low or high office.

 

 

On this day 56^th years ago

We proudly raised our flag toward heaven,

Grateful to the Almighty Father

In Whom we are daily strengthened.

 

Happy Independence/Republic Day

BARBADOS!

You have come a mighty long way!

Let’s all give praise and thanks to God

That we have lived to see this day.

 

Stewart Russell © November 30, 2022

 

My Requests

 

 

On this 56^th Independence eve

And the 1st for our fledgling republic,

I have some requests I would like to make

That I hope would be taken in good spirit.

 

I am watching the town hall meetings

Regarding the new republic constitution,

And I still wonder why we put out to sea

Without a ship to sail the ocean.

 

But that is all in the past

And that is one thing we cannot change,

Not even God has ever attempted it

Or any historic event rearranged.

 

So, let’s stop crying over spilt milk

Would be the first of my requests,

And let us chart a future for our country

To relieve some of its present stress.

 

Please examine the amount of borrowing

Knowing that we have to pay it back

And the investments that are in the pipeline,

Please hurry up and get them on track.

 

Do appreciate the taxes are horrendous

Especially on the most vulnerable,

There must be a limit within reasonableness

To tax already disheartened people.

 

Commercial banks and insurance companies

Are nothing short of a rip-off!

If they don’t profit as much as before

They actually call it a loss.

 

And they both use the people’s money

To service their huge clientele

For, they have no money of their own

With which they can buy and sell.

 

 

Compare the interest they charge on loans

With their insult on people’s deposits,

I really would like to see a change going forward

Regarding this deplorable habit.

 

I have to stick with my old car

Obviously because I can do no better

But paying its insurance does not benefit me

Given this silly third-party matter.

 

I must say the Government is no better

Given the albatross known as land tax

For even people in their nineties still pay

And I know this to be a fact.

 

Maybe these matters are not as critical

When compared to some other matters

But I believe they need also to be included

Within the Constitution chatter.

 

Much of the parish speak discussion

Has been focused on sexual orientation

And this is particularly baffling to me

Given the template of creation.

 

What right does a same sex couple

Have to children other than their own?

What parental models will cater to that child

Until that child is fully grown?

 

What importance are mother and father

In the light of two of the same sex?

How does this shape our young republic

Regarding the young generation and the next?

 

 

Spare a thought for the children

Less we commit national genocide

For until our technology creates a human cell,

Same sex couples won’t produce a child.

 

Whether we are a Christian society or not

I would not argue about this

But if we dare take God out of the equation

There is much that we will miss.

 

For there is no moral compass without Him

Whether agnostic or atheist

And He is the bedrock of every human society

Regardless of what we may insist.

 

With that said I would like to request

We leave the National Anthem alone,

Especially the beginning of the second stanza

With which Barbadians are at home.

 

Be careful how you pander to minorities

Beyond ensuring their human rights

For, should they be allowed to overrule the majority,

Absolutely bizarre will be our plight.

 

Democracy will be through the door

Seeing theocracy left long ago,

And where our beautiful country will end up,

Neither you or I know.

 

 

For as we deal with globalization

And as we traverse its myriad seas,

We will need a reliable compass for our ship of state

To separate the dog from its fleas.

 

Lest we destroy the dog with the fleas

And throw out the baby with the bathwater

And determine that the genitals of our children

No longer determine son or daughter.

 

Family, community and nationhood:

Therein are our building blocks,

And if we continually falter on the first of these,

Our ship of state will find the rocks.

 

These are my basic requests

And to you they may seem like a few

But they speak to Creator God and the people,

And there is no better view.

 

Stewart Russell © November 29, 2022

 

Life and Death

 

 

It’s in life we understand death

Never the other way around

So, let us learn what we can of life

Before death takes us down.

 

It is not by ignoring death

That we truly live

But rather, by acknowledging death,

We discover what life has to give.

 

Some call me morbid

When I daily acknowledge death

But the truth be told, I am aware

And hence, in life I am at rest.

 

I do not look forward to death

As some supposedly think I do

For living means so much more to me

And it should for you too.

 

Some, on their deathbeds,

Regretted that they had never lived,

And now that they had come to die

Their life had never fizzed.

 

A life without effervescence

Just a plain and ordinary life,

 And now this reflection as they die

Raises inner strife.

 

Rather than a peaceful transition

They experience turmoil and regret,

While it is apparent that they were dying

They had not begun to live as yet.

 

 

“Because I can no longer ignore death

I pay more attention to life.”

The words of a terminally ill woman

Grappling with her cancerous strife.

 

But she touched the lives of many

Who on her wise counsel relied

Thus, her life became the more vibrant

Though death she could not deny.

 

“Life with cancer is terminal,”

She had heard a cancer victim say

But that is a grave reality for all of us

Since death will get us some day.

 

That life will invariably end in death

Should be a sobering thought for all,

However, we need not die before we live

And regret not living when death calls.

 

Some people’s greatest moment

Comes at the memorial of their death

But unlike the living they do not hear

No matter how much eulogists impress.

 

Give me my flowers while I’m alive

Is not about the garden plant

But rather, give commendation to the hearing

Because when they die they can’t.

 

Stewart Russell © September 29, 2022

 

Could Be Your Last

 

 

From time to time

I have dared to offend

But I did so, not in contempt,

But as a true friend.

 

There is nothing, I say,

Like a really true friend

Especially when so many

Drive us ‘round the bend.

 

It is true, in my opinion,

We fret up too much

And complain every day

About having bad luck.

 

But this Independence

I en fretting muhself

Cause I come to the conclusion

Fretting does only ruin yuh health.

 

 

And besides,

This could be the last Independence Day

If some people I know

Get to have their way.

 

Barbados National Day

Could replace Independence Day

Once the timing is right

And de people have no say.

 

There I go,

Offending people again,

But yuh know sometimes it is difficult

To continue holding strain.

 

Sing the following, if you can,

To the tune of “God Bless Bim”

And if it sounds really great to you

Post me a grin!

 

God bless Bim

On Barbados National Day

On Barbados National day

On Barbados National Day.

 

God bless Bim

On Barbados National Day

God bless Bim

We hope and pray!

 

I was wondering

If it could be done with the change of words

And guess what?

To me it sounds kind of absurd.

 

But we too opposed to change

And that is why we does fret

Though we can’t really tell if it would work

If it hasn’t been changed yet.

Though, when it doesn’t work

We still don’t change back,

So, maybe we should leave things alone!

Tell them I say that.

 

But to be serious, though,

Whuh you tink ‘bout dis crime?

Let me tell you, it is so bad

People going out o’ dey mind.

 

And I don’t mean stealing

But I mean all this shooting!

And the more the authorities talk

The worse it getting.

 

It is like the shootists saying,

“Talk don’t frighten we.

We is do whuh we got to do.

Wunna keep talking and see!”

 

 

When de shotguns spray

Yuh could get hit with a stray

And that could be de very day

That in de dust you could lay.

 

It uses to happen mostly at nights

Now it does happen even in de day,

These shootists don’t seem to care

Who gets sprayed.

 

In busy places with people around,

In the country as well as the town,

Around schools and public vehicles too,

They behaving like savage hounds.

 

 

Independence or Barbados National Day

Means nothing to them

And the authorities appear clueless

Regarding this national problem.

 

COVID-19 almost gone

But there is another scourge!

It is guns in the hands of the trigger-happy

That shooting at the slightest urge.

 

It could be your last Independence

Or even mine

If either of us is caught by a stray bullet

From in front or behind.

 

Fancy an “Oops, I am so sorry,

That is my bad!

It wasn’t intended for you,

That is so sad.”

 

Meaningless sentiment

Does not bring back the dead

Or satisfy the remaining loved ones

Of the one taken out by lead.

So, “jar this”,

To use a young people’s phrase,

Enjoy this Independence Day

Because it could your last parade.

 

Stewart Russell © November 25, 2022

 

The One-Eye Photographer

 

 

I know you won’t believe this,

This tale I have to tell

Of a photographer extraordinaire

Who plied his trade quite well.

 

He was a one-eye photographer

Back in the old camera days

And he, to confront his disability,

Employed some interesting ways.

 

Well as you would surely expect

Only one eye could see

So, he charged half price for a photo

Since only half a photo could be.

 

You see, he didn’t have a problem

Squinting through one eye

Like those photographers long ago

Of so many years gone by.

 

Out of both eyes they could see

But chose to use only one,

This photographer had no such problem

For one of his was gone.

 

Well, he had a great clientele,

To him the people would flocked,

Half price for a whole photo!

Which sane person would not?

 

However, because of his one eye

Only half a photo came out,

And of this he convinced most

Though a few had their doubt.

 

Having developed each photo

He would cut that photo in half,

Half price was for half a photo

Half more for the other half.

 

Some people had half the money

And could only buy one half,

I tell you, now I think about it,

I cannot help but laugh.

 

If it were a group photo

You could buy the half with you,

I suppose that was a win-win exchange

For the photographer and you too.

 

But the one-eye photographer

Began to wise up to their way

And charged double for group photos

Such that he still received full pay.

 

 

I always use to wonder

Why photographers closed one eye

But would never dare to ask any

Since I was always quite shy.

 

One eye takes half a picture,

That one-eye photographer proved it

So that when they tried to “juck out his eye”

He found a workable trick.

 

I know you won’t believe this,

This tale I have just told

Of a photographer extraordinaire

Who, I must say, was quite bold.

 

Stewart Russell © August 29, 2022

 

Seemingly So

 

 

Seeming is apparent

It’s never definitely certain,

There is still some skepticism

Lurking behind the curtain.

 

As the drama unfolds

So many things can occur

To question the apparent

And make one more unsure.

 

Seeming is never certain

It is more of a hope,

More like a mechanism we use

To help us to cope.

 

A friend once said to me

Ninety-nine percent is still unsure,

There is some reservation

That looms more and more.

 

It is always the uncertainty

That worries us the most,

And it’s only a hundred percent

In which we can boast.

 

 

There is certainty with God

I can think of no one else,

Not even in the greatest human

And surely not in self.

 

You see, God knows everything

And we do not,

Nothing is apparent to Him

But appearance is our lot.

 

It is all we have to go on

That is, outside of God,

It is somewhat like the lotto

Until the numbers are called.

 

The present is our best bet,

The future is a no-show

And if indeed it comes around,

There is only today to show.

 

How it seems is exactly that

No matter our insistence,

Appearance is an approximation;

It’s not an exact science.

 

Take Longfellow’s timely advice:

Trust no future however pleasant,

However bright it may seem,

Seemingly so is just apparent.

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

 

Absolutely No Conflict

 

 

 

Some perceive there’s a conflict

Between the apostles James and Paul

On the matter of salvation

But I see none at all.

 

For a background to this matter

Of these two texts take note:

There are Ephesians 2:8 and 9

And James 2:24 and I quote:

 

You see then how

That by works

A man is justified

And not by faith only.

 

Now hear the apostle Paul:

 

For by grace are you saved

Through faith;

And that not of yourselves:

It is the gift of God:

Not of works,

Lest any man should boast.

 

At a glance it would appear

There is obvious contradiction

But look a little closer and you’ll see

There is no such opposition.

 

Paul appeals to the fact:

The fact of salvation, I mean,

While James coming in behind

Speaks to the resulting scene.

 

Saved by grace!

It starts and ends with God,

And the faith that comes by hearing

Is also divinely caused.

 

By grace through faith:

Both from God’s loving hand,

Compliments of His precious Word

Effecting salvation’s plan.

 

No works to raise the dead

Or in keeping the dead alive

And none can maintain salvation

No matter how he strives.

 

So, where do works come in

As James appeared to suggest?

It is the fruit-producing consequence:

The evidentiary process.

 

 

By their fruits!

This is how we come to know,

The fruit of the one that is saved

Will gradually begin to show.

 

Paul speaks to the heart

While James reflects the walk,

It’s what’s inside intimates Jesus:

Living is more than talk.

 

Paul speaks to the internal:

That’s where God’s work is done,

James appeals to the external:

That’s where our race is run.

 

Compass by many witnesses

As this Christian race we run,

The battle’s is the Lord’s, we are told

And He has already won.

 

Take note of James’ “Show me!”

 

Show me your faith

Without your works,

And I will show you

My faith by my works.

 

 

Works is the external evidence

Of the work done inside:

The work of the Holy Spirit

In the one in whom he abides.

 

There is therefore no clash

Between the two apostles,

Actually, one complements the other

In this perceived tussle.

 

No evidence, no life!

That poor old soul is dead!

“All talk and no walk”, indicates

He is on his deathbed.

 

 

For as the body

Without the Spirit is dead,

So faith without works

Is dead also.

 

No conflict, I reemphasize,

Absolutely no conflict at all,

No contradiction of sorts or otherwise

Between the apostle James and Paul.

 

Stewart Russell © October 11, 2022