My Wish for Barbados

Just a short while ago

We were celebrating Yuletide,

It was the month of December

And the temperature was mild.

 Christmas was gone in a flash

And resolutions were being made

With the hope, I would imagine

That one or two would prevail.

Now in the month of November

Fast approaching Independence Day,

Time really flies, it is true,

We cannot help but say.

It was tied to having fun

But as I see it, no longer so,

It appears, at least to me

It is now on rapid go!

Sometimes I get the feeling

We are hurtling towards something,

I just trust it’s something good,

I mean, something worth enjoying.

This year has had its share

Of things quite horrifying,

Particularly the first three months

With a number of our youth dying.

The gun was partly responsible

And so too was the knife,

I long for a day to come

When there will be no more strife.

I wonder if it is possible

It can happen in my time

But I would surely like a Barbados

Full of people who are kind.

Like in earlier times

In our booming tourist industry

When the tourists themselves spoke

Of our vibrant hospitality.

It appears then, we understood

What tourism meant to us

And we did everything possible

To be a people they could trust.

We had our sea and sun

Just like we still have today

But we also had a people

Who understood the bajan way.

O that we could return

Not necessarily to the past

But to the attitudes and behaviors

When Barbados was simply class.

To the community spirit

That we are trying so hard to revive

That in a past, not so long ago

It just naturally survived.

A time when drugs were unheard of

And community spirit was strong

A block was under a streetlamp

And not for planning wrong.

But for passing on information

About the olden days

And teaching those who gathered

About the proven bajan way.

The attitude of sharing

And looking out for one another,

O, that we could return to this

And get rid of the present bother.

With progress has come a price

That really would not have been

If we had maintained the attitude

Of that earlier bajan scene.

As this year hurtles on

To its inevitable end,

I wish that we would return

To those attributes, my friend.

Stewart Russell © November 2019

Let Us Arise and Build

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