Your Vote

 

 

Personal, Private & Powerful!

The significance of your vote,

It carries a tremendous responsibility;

Fellow Barbadians, Take note!

 

There is one vote per person:

Only one belongs to you,

It is a personal vote, therefore,

You decide what to do.

 

No one can cast it for you

Hence, you must cast it in person,

And having cast your only vote

For you the matter is done.

 

It is really a private matter

And should be treated as such,

None needs feel they can buy it

It’s not a matter of how much.

 

Make no promises to any one

Your vote is not for sale,

And any who tries to coerce you

Report them without fail.

 

A vote is a powerful medium

In that it gives you a say,

It says that you are important

If only for one day.

 

It’s the power that you have,

Though in a moment it is gone!

Then you must wait for five years

Before you get another one.

 

Unless of course,

With a year and a half short,

The command from the General

Is a command to abort.

 

And so, you get a chance

To cast your vote again,

To elect a totally new Government

Or let the incumbent remain.

 

I am still quite baffled

As to why this election was called,

I heard what the PM said

But that cannot be all.

 

Given the huge vote of confidence

Only three and half years ago,

It is not making sense

But that’s just my say so.

 

A new mandate, in my view,

Was not necessary at this time,

Fulfilling one’s manifesto promises

Must be paramount in one’s mind.

 

Five years is an elected term:

Not one and half years short,

It is like kind of abandoning ship

Or something of that sort.

 

What will a new mandate change?

It is likely to be no change

And whatever it was that occurred,

Is likely to happen again.

 

I trust it won’t be thirty-nil

We can’t take that again,

Too much power in one party’s hand

Is likely to cause us pain.

 

So, B’s cast your votes

And D’s, you cast your votes too,

And all of the other parties

Do what you have to do!

 

And those who are undecided

That is your option too,

Do not let anyone ridicule you

If voting is not your view.

 

Personal, Private & Powerful!

The significance of your vote,

It carries a tremendous responsibility;

Fellow Barbadians, Take note!

 

Stewart Russell © January 14, 2022

Heavenly Father

As each wends his way to vote

Let Your Holy will be done

Keep us focused on the task

And all detractors and enticers shun

Let there be calm I pray

Throughout this entire day

And however we may vote

Let’s accept it as the people’s say

For parties we may be divided

But for country let us be one

And give our support to whomever

Will rule at the coming dawn

Let everything be done in decency

And in the stipulated order

Let not stupidity or folly

Be seen within our border

May fairness and justice reign

Let there be no intimidation

To influence one way or another

As we vote across this nation

Give your journeying mercies

To the greatest and the least

And may every single constituency

Experience your Divine peace

We thank you for our country

And for Your gracious oversight

That whoever forms our Government

Will do what they know is right

Inspire them with a conscience

That is quickened by genuine love

And remind all and sundry

Blessings come only from above

Honour today this prayer

We pray in Your Son’s name

And to you we give all praise

For your sovereign and gracious reign

Stewart Russell © May 2018

Our Misleading “X”

Why place an “X”

Instead of a pass

A pass is what I desired

When I was in class

I scorned an “X”

But appreciated a pass

They determined who came first

And who came last

Awards were given 

On account of the pass

But now an “X” decides

The parliamentary class

Why place an “X”

Instead of a pass

Seems an irony to me

I am aghast

We are told to vote

By placing an “X”

That “X” means a pass

In an election context

So while at school

I struggle for a pass

For the “X” is out of place

In any form or class

But in an election

They do anything for an “X”

And when they don’t get it

They get very vex

The more “X’s” they get

The better the chance

To pass the public’s examination

And their life enhance

So that we award a pass

By issuing an “X”

And that awardee can walk up

The parliament steps

  

Then what about his record

If it deserves an “X”

You see what I mean

It gets more complex

He may still get the “X”

Though his record shows “FAIL”

And that gives him a pass

And into parliament he sails

What a graduation exercise

When an “X” shows pass

And is allowed to put someone

At the head of the class

I don’t mean to confuse

Or mixed signals send

But that’s precisely what happens

When an election ends

The winner gets the most “X’s”

But he doesn’t get failed

Yet at school my several “X’s”

Only got me some wales

Politicians are rewarded

For the “X’s” they obtain

But the students suffer instead

All kinds of pain

We use our misleading “X”

As our confidential vote

To select a representative

In whom we hope

We set them up to fail

When we give them an “X”

And when they actually fail

We always get vex

A pass might be better

Since “X” stands for “FAIL”

But it might be too late now

To deal with such a detail

Stewart Russell © May 2018

Our Calling and Election

 

Election is the buzzword

It’s on the tongues of most

Many are on the campaign trail

In the town, the country, on the coast

Some are traditional diehards

Re: the Adams and Barrow age

But many are still undecided

Even at this late stage

Some hold that the major parties

Basically are the same

The names and faces are changed

But the same governance again

All politicians are the same

More than a few hold to this

Who they hate they habitually kick

And who they like they kiss

This apart that group maintains

Politicians are basically selfish

And for the purpose of feathering their beds

They promise what you wish

But another election I’ll mention

And of that you can be sure

It’s the election of all elections

After that there will be no more

As politicians vie for your vote

Two are vying for your soul

One is bent on its destruction

The other on making you whole

Based on who gets your vote

Will be the matter of life or death

Death in terms of a flaming hell

Life in entering the Father’s rest

Some will find this trivial

Or rather quite amusing

But in this life you must cast your vote

There’s absolutely no refusing

  

In the civil kind of elections

One is not forced to vote

But in this spiritual election

Your choice strikes an eternal note

In 2Peter chapter 1 verse 10

The Apostle gives a clarion call

To make our calling and election sure

And we shall never fall

Not for five years or there about

But in an everlasting kingdom

Not for a human imperfect leader

But under Jesus Christ, God’s Son

I reiterate I really must

All that lived have already voted

And in fact all alive also have

And this should be readily noted

At birth there is a default

And thus all are born in sin

And unless one chooses Jesus Christ

That one will die therein

Thus it behooves us one and all

To make our calling and election sure

For this you must vote before you die

For after, the opportunity is no more

As you think on this May election

Consider too your current status

You are dead in trespasses and sin

If you have not voted in Jesus

A vote for Christ is a vote for life

Not for just now but forever

He alone makes that election sure

And believe you me there’s no other

Stewart Russell © April 2018

The Ayes Have It

The ayes have it; it is clear to see

That is the evidence of the vote,

The nays had their chance but the ayes have won

Let the record duly note.

A convincing argument though lacking substance

With loud voice and booming sound

Aroused the slumbering, befuddled voters

Though nothing of essence could be found.

What an enlightening presentation

Punctuated with questionable stats!

But given the oratorical skills of the speaker

The majority registered them as facts.

So the vote carried as we thought it would

Since the vote was really for the man,

It did not matter what he had said

To give him the nod was the their plan.

The ayes have it; the nays have lost

It’s a win for democracy,

From the people of the people by the people

Here is a man of integrity.

Offering to serve this people

With whom he once identified

Having once lived among them

Qualified him fit to apply.

And so the ayes once had it

But now he cannot see

For what the ayes have has blinded him

To his own misery.

Now self-made and a law unto to himself

Having parallax vision and a myopic view,

Clearly a case of the “I” disease

And how to fix it, not a single clue.

Yes the ayes have it; they got their man

Though he no longer cares about their plan,

Applying to serve he now wants to be served

His so-called service is only a sham.

Parallax vision and short-sightedness,

Yes, the ayes have it with their distorted view,

Misstep after misstep with nary a clue

Now a hodgepodge of misfits makes up his crew.

So all must suffer, the ayes and the nays

And even those of the in-between,

The ayes always have it even if they’re wrong

For they are the ones presiding over this scene.

No balm for the eyes weary and strained

No temporary restraint or ease,

Having made our bed in it we must lay

“The ayes have it, yes that dreaded disease.

Stewart Russell © May, 2017