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I ", . . • , . ' . .I . " '; \ v,./~ I .~ -.-- (/." , , . • • , --.,.".---- Special Issue • OF • r Edited by A. J. SEYMOUR. Vol. 6 No 19. TWO SHILLINGS , l,;O,- , .')7S ~ S · I I I , \ Try this test and see! Watch each member of your family read the Guiana Graphic. , You may be surprised. For you'll find Junior scanning general news as well as comics, your wife reading sports as well as the women's page, and you may turn to the gossip column. Yes, there's lots of ,. cross over" reading in every I family, and this means planning and editing your Guiana Graphic to please everyone. Every story, on i Page I 2 as well as page one, must be easily I understood, accurate and interesting. The Guiana Graphic knows this. That's why it's the paper that is written to be under ake the stood by everybody. your daily tonic 65, Robb & King Streets $ 1.40 per ii\onth Georgetown 30c. per week ...... ~ L» ) • i'( • • SCOTCH WHISKY • AGENTS: • • • Letln l C ter, . , Water Street, Georgetown. 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JAN The Cities • • • • • • , . • • 1017 , , Manarabisi · , • • • • · , 2] ~ Barakara ., · , • • • • • • • • 2Z CARTER. MARTIN New Day . . • • • • • • • • , . For My S on .. . . • • • • • • • • Fragment of Memory • • · , , . • • Listening to the Land • • • • • • • • CHINlAPEN. J . W. Albion Wilds • • • • • • • • • • CL ARKE. PRESTON We waited for t he Dawn • • • • • • 34 CLEMENTI. CECIL Kaietuk .. • • • • • • • • • • 23 Roraima .. • • · , • • · , • • 19 COSSOU. MORTIM,ER A. Come raise your voices , . , , • • , . 109 DALZELL. FRANK E. The Kiskadee • • • • · , · , · , 46 ... The River Demerara ., • • · , · , · , 12 Obituary of a Bum . . • • • • · , • • 32 DAVIS. L. C. Day of Deligh t • • • • • • · , • • 39 Alphecca . , · , • • • • • • • • 71 Satan's Serenade • • • • • • , . • • 104 Flowers for You , . , . , . • • · , 72 de JONGE. LlA.URIE .. , , Meditation . . . . • • · , · , 95 • Man know Thyself .. • • • • , . · , 96 I affirm God's presence is here · , • • , , 97 de WEEVE,R. J.ACQU,E!LINE Poem . . . . • • , . • • • • 59 Poem . . . , • • • • • • • • 65 GLF,N, IGNATIUS The River in October • • • • • • · , 50 ... Mineena . . . , • • • • • • • • 16 Lulu Water . . . . • • • • • • • • 78 G,RIMES. JOH N , Elise • • • • . • • • • • • 62 HAMIL TON, CLEVELAND W. Helle . . . . , . , , , . , . 77 Symbols . , . , • • · , • • • • 105 HARP,ER. DORIS Villanelle .. • • • • · , , . , . 53 .. I • HARPER-SMITH, J. W. Farchment and Quill . . • • • • • • • • 103 i To a Dead Silk Cotton Tree ., • • , . • • 14 Twilight . . . . , , • • • • , . 52 Luna , . . , , . • • • • • • 58 HARRIS, GEORGE I sat in the land of poets • • • • • • • • 9,2 Hl~RRIS, WILSON , , , Tell me Trees • • • • . • • 42 These are the words of an old man , . • • • • 84 The Chorus .... • ••• , . • • , . • • 106 Savanah Lands · , · , , , • • , . 20 ,> HEATH, ROY , The Peasants • • • • • • • • . 82 JOSIAH, HENRY W. • , And so the Tears .... ,/ - • • · , · , • • 44 Hindsight of England · , • • • • • • 108 LAWRENCE, P. Kaieteur . . . , ... . • • • • , , 24 Oriens Ex Oceidente Lux • • • • • • • 101 , LA WRENCE, WALTER MAC. A. , , , , 100 ~ .!\nticipatory . , • • • • , , J Morning ...... · , , . • • • • 36 From Meditation, Thoughts in the Silence • • · , 81 Kaieteur , , .. • • , , • ••• • • 25 ,\ Futility , , .. • • • •• • • • • • 80 ] . 0 Beautiful Guiana , , • ••• • • , . MARTIN, E,GBEIRT (LEO) , Twilight . . . . • ••• , , , , • • 51 The Swallow . . , . • • •• , , • • 49 , Themes of Song .. • • • • • • 33 I can no longer hide • • , , , . • • 64 My Darling...... • • • ••• • • • • 63 I • , National Anthem .. • • · , · , • • 110 j IV'J:LVILLE, EDWINA • • • • i In the Night .... • • • • • • • • • • • • 74 i Poem , . • • · , · , • • • • 73 '> ,. MITCHELL, HORACE ~ MIT~~g~~~~~~R, EDGA~' , , • ••• • • • • 60 ? .. The Virgin .. . . . , • • • • •• , , 8.' October Seventh . . . . · , • ••• • • 76 Meditations of a man slightly drunk , . • • • •• • 30 PARRIS, VERNON , ... Moonlight at Apoteri • • , . • • • • •• J. I PIE,RS, FRANCIS HANDY I do not know . . . . • ••• , , • • 28 Old Seawall . . . . · . • • • • 9 Victoria Regia . . . . ( .. , • ••• · , • • 10 Guianese Garden . . . . • • • ••• • • f 11 RjA.MCHARIT'AR - LALLA, C. E. J. Lips ...... • • • • • • , . 70 The Leaky House . . . .. , , , , . · , 31 The Stars , ...... • • • • • • 56 The Weeding Gang ., , . , , .... , . 29 \ - - - R,EJS. E. H. I told my heart ...... • • • • · - 61 Gladness and sorrow, laughter and tears • ••• • • 90 Welcome April . . . . • • • • • • 38 " RICHMo.ND. QUENTIN On the sands of Leguan • • • • ·. , . • • 15 Ro.DWtAY. J. ALWYN Telephone .. • • • •• • • • • • • • 102 RUH-o.MAN. PETER A Tropical Morn • • • • • • • • • • • • 35 Kiskadee .. • • · - • •• • • • • • 47 The Legend of Kaieteur • • • • - . • • 2'1 Name Poem ...... • • • • • • - - ", There runs a dream ... . · - • • • • · - 2 Buttercup . . . . • • • • • • • • 41 Carrion Crows .. • • • • - . • • •• 45 SIMo.NE. RICARDO. w The Sea Gull .. • • • • 48 , • • • • The City of Sin .. • ••• • • • • • • 9] SMITH. ARTHUR Go.LDWIN Poem • • • • • ••• • • • • • • 89 STEELE. MARK Night's Descent • • • • • • • • • • 54 r AITT. B,ELEN Poem .. • • • ••• · - • • • • 75 Maybe .... • • , . • • • • • • 94 'Waves .. • ••• • • • • • • • • 40 Strange .. • • • • • • · , .... 93 rROTMAN, D. IA • .R. '/ To Marian .. • • • • • • • • · - 68 Cave Cano .... • ••• · - • • · , • • 69 . To a Star . . • • • • • • • • • • 55 . Music in the Dark • • • • • • • • · - 98 • Essequibo .. .. • ••• • • • • • • • • 13 rULL.OCH. CECIL M. A Dream .. .. • • • • • • · - 66 My Jewel . . . . • • • • • • • • • • 67 VAN SERTIMA. IVAN G. The Tide of Time •• • • • • • • • • • • 88 The Hidden Ocean • • • • • • • • • • • • 86 Life's Mountain • • • • · , • • · - 87 Will .. • • • ••• · , • • • • • • 85 WEL.CH. IVAN Kaietuk . . . . • • • • • • • • 26 WHI.TE, STANLEY H\AML,EAR Star of Eve .. • • • • • • • • .. .. Contributions and all letters shovld be s2nt to the Editor "Kyk Over-AI", 23, North Road, Bourda, Georgetown, British Guiana. - -._. ------~.------. - - INTRODUCTION Anyone who compiles an Anthology of Verse must desire to bring to the notice of his readers the best that has been written in the particular field covered by the Anthology. He will, of course, know that his selection is conditioned by his own prefer ences and judgment, and by the quality of the material which comes under his survey. ,. When the Anthology is one of Guianese Verse, the Editor must also ask himself to what degree does the selection help to build a feeling of national pride and to chronicle the achievements (j)f the people of the country. All these, however, are questions that he keeps at the back of his mind as he goes from poem to poem noting the qualities of each and how the personalities of the writi.. ers express themselves in various modes. Of course a Guianese Anthology can be based on poets. One " could say that we wanted to show the excellence of the works of Guianese poets, and arrange the collection so to emphasize the various aspects of their development and the range of their imagi nation. But it seemed better to the Editor to base this Anthology on the country in which we live and to compile an Anthology of Guiana, to select poems which show the imaginations and skill of poets after they have reacted to this country's sights and sounds. The mathematicians tell us that the whole is greater than its parts. Many of us have seen at some time one or other of these poems but always in a context to which they contributed their value. It is quite another thing to bring these poems together within two covers and to let them accumulate their impact upon the reader into a massive awareness of the traditions and beliefs we have built and are building in our country. I can only hope that this Anthology of Guianese Verse will bring delight, and eventual pride, to the people who read it. After " all is said and done, the poet must write for himself .to express his moods, his impassioned feelings or his elevated thoughts, and it is only secondarily that he writes for others to see. An aspect of poetry which is often not considered by critics is that poetry is . an attempt to understand reality, to transcribe truth perceived in a mood of emotional uplift, and to push back the barriers of one's own consciousness. It may be that at the same time one is '" rediscovering regions of truth not yet inhabited by one's friends or by one's own people, and in British Guiana as a community we need all opportunities to find our own leaders of thought and people who have spiritual and mental insight. * * * It was in the 1930's that Mr. N. E. Cameron returned from Cambridge University to complete a lack that he had found in his y' own knowledge. Fellow scholars had asked him about the writ ings of his own country so Mr. Cameron took upon himself the difficult task of turning up the old files available and compiling the best, in his judgment, of poems written in British Guiana be tween 1831 and 1931, published as "Guianese Poetry (covering the Hundred Years Period 1831-1931)". G2 K YK-OVER-AL He shows us for instance Mr. Oliver, school-master at Buxton, ,. writing on the occasion of the Emanicipation of Slavery and pro ducing verse which is of interest to the sociologist more than to the • critic, but one does have the beginnings there of joy at the freedom of the people. "Colonist" writing in 1832 brings to bear upon his. subject a kind of Words worthian love of nature ,but he is not suf- : ficiently .a part of the Guianese .scene to express its sights and sounds. When we come to Mr. Thomas Don in the 1870's, the piety is there but not the poetry. It is with Leo (Egbert Martin) ; and Lawrence that we move into the creative tradition of Guian- , • ese verse and it is only in the last 20 years that we have all kinds . of singing birds in contrast to the silence and desert of the years . between 1840 and 1930. Be that as it may, Mr. Cameron has " laid us all under his debt. l After Mr. Cameron's Anthology the only attempt at a com pilation of a Guianese character has been the Fourteen Guianese r" Poems for Children selected by the Students of the Government ' , Training College for Teachers in 1953. This collection again lays stress on rhythm and simple understanding and the diversity of the Guiana scene, and attempts to make us proud of our Guiana. • I hope that anyone who wants to refresh his memory of some ' cherished poem written by a Guianese will be able to find it in I . these pages and that these poems will express the personalities '. of Guianese as well as provide emotional photographs of sights and sounds in this country. For instance, I am glad that we will be able to preserve some of the poems of Peter Ruhomon because anyone who has enjoyed his friendship, as I have on a junior plane, will be glad to have his personality laid up in amber in his ' poems. Peter Ruhomon belongs to a vanishing age of the elderly gentlemen with cultivated personalities who walked the ways of Guiana, and at the same time their work provides a foundation , on which to base the advance achieved by younger writers from the Victorian echoes of those days. Here is a rich diversity ' which will in time create the foundation of a Guianese way of r life. It is the hope of the Editor that this collection will help to . shape the mentality of this generation in its thought and its memory, so far as a collection of verse can, that it will supply them with memorable words for their own speech and be a kind of measuring rod against which they can try their future poems. • The Bible and Shakespeare were the Pillars of Hercules through which the writers of England entered upon their heritage at the beginning of the 17th century. Similarly, at the beginning of this new vigorous era in our Guianese life, we need some verse to provide the platform for advance in the future . .. '" .. .. • One hope I cherish is that the children of the present and later generations may look upon this collection, such as it is, as one of the springs from which their spirit of country can be nourished. ------~.--.- , ---- . ------~------I KYK-OVER-AL 63 The sights and sounds of Guiana are always here for us to see, but the poet comes with his richer appreciation and his gift of Y words and he enshrines the beauty in words which enhance the daily sight. It is one thing to have the Atlantic on one's doorstep and it is another for Lawrence to exclaim in ecstasy "The great Atlantic blown into a fury or asleep".. It is one thing to see the broad savannahs; it is another for Wilson Harris rever ently to say "lands that hold in their bosom space like a benedic tion". Roraima is a name on a map but Sir Cecil Clementi ~ converts it into an "altar table of our God ...... whither the Most High summoneth the soul upward". Kyk-Overal is a strong name ' to tie the imagination to ·a toweringl peak in time. And Kaieteur what shall we say of this stupendous fall? Here we have the natural wonder woven into mythology. I could multiply the list of names and regions, but I must con- .. tent myself with saying that there are poems written in the Rupu nuni by Edwina Melville and in the Pomeroon by Ignatius Glen. The Demerara and the Essequibo Rivers are celebrated and the Albion Wilds have their poet. There is the sprightly kiskadee which Peter Ruhomon calls "the earliest of the feathered throng" and which Dalzell describes as "maestro of Guiana's minstrelsy"; there are the carrion crows, those "emperors of the sky balancing • gracefully in the wind's drive". This type of grouping lays less stress (as I said before) on the personalities of the poets, but I thought it bett.er to lay their moods in the categories of places r.ather than present them as products of one writer. What.ever loss there is to the individual writers, it has been a gain for the spirit of Guiana which we all desire to foster . .' For the most part the collection consists of poems by Guianese still alive; but it also includes many poems from Leo (Egbert Mar tin) (1862 1890) and Walter MacA. Lawrence (1896 1942), and it is Lawrence's lovely invitation which greets us at the door . • - Acknowledgements , Acknowledgements are due to the Editors of the following: Guianese Poetry (183] 193]); A New Canadian Anthology, Toronto, 1938; ,; Timehri; Christmas Annual; Christmas Tide; The Daily Chronicle; the Daily Argosy; the Guiana Graphic; for the use of pO'ems first published in their pages. The Editor is of course heavily indebted to the po'ets whose work is published in this <;:olle<;:tion. • • • • 1 WALTER MAC A. LAWRENCE o Beautiful Guiana , o beautiful Guiana o my lovely native land More dear to me than all the world Thy sea-washed sun-kissed strand, Or down upon the borders Looking down upon the Deep The great Atlantic blown Into a fury or asleep At morn, at noon or better In the Crimson Sunse,'s glow I love thee, 0 I love thee - .. 2 A. J. SEYMOUR There Runs a Dream There runs a dream of perished Dutch planta:ions In these Guiana rivers to the sea. Black waters, rustling through the vegetation That towers and tangles banks, run silently Over lost stellings where the craf~ once rode Easy before trim dwellings in the sun And fields of indigo would float out broad To lose the eye right on the horizon. These rivers know that strong and quiet m en Drove back a jungle, gave Guiana root Against the shock of circumstance, and ,hen History moved down river, leaving free The forest to creep back, foot by quiet foot And overhang black waters to the sea. 3 MARTIN CARTER "New Day" • Not hands like mine these Carib altars knew: nameless and quite forgotten are the gods; and mute, • mute and alone, , heir silent people spend ---_._------,. , ------. ~. . ------_. ----- I KYK-OVER-AL 65 I a ring of vacant days, • not like more human years, • as aged and brown their rivers flow away. yes, pressing on my land, there is an ocean's flood; > it is a muttering sea, here, right at my feet my strangled city lies, my father's city and my mother's heart: hoarse groaning tongues, children without love, • mothers without blood, • all cold as dust nights dim, there is no rest . ) ah! mine was a pattern woven by a slave dull as a dream encompassed in a tomb now still are the fields • covered by the floods; and thos'e rivers roll over altars gone; naked, naked loins ,;hrobbing deep with life rich with birth indeed, rouse, turning to the sun. and more fierce rain will come again tonight, new day must clean, have floods not drowned the fields • killing my rice and stirring up my wrath? 4 N. E. CAMERON • Von Hoogenhehn The sla,ves groan; Freedom's domain they must share; - Their tasks wring sweat of blood and no return; For wrongs untold their hearts with vengeance burn; But puffed wit,h pride the masters fail to hear. The slaves rebel. The masters quake with fear; Those cower most who showed themselves most stern, And prove what ruled and rulers know or learn - The kind are bravest, yes, the most austere. For as a shepherd, when the :t,hun;cier roars And fitful flashes cleave the air, sublime ". His frightened flock's frail confidence restores; Or as a builder mutely views his time And labour lost yet does not sink but soars To fresher heights . , so stands Vop Hoogenheim . 5 MARTIN CARTER Fragment of Memory • W'e have a sea on this shore Whole waves of foam groan out perpe~ually. In the ships coming, in the black slaves dying in the hot sun burning down- We bear a mark no shower of tears can shift. On the bed of the ocean bones alone remain rolling like pebbles drowned in many years. From the beginning of ships there was always someone who wept when sails were lost. Perhaps the brown Phoenician woman cried and cried again because a ship went down '" Or then some Grecian boy with swollen eyes looked for his father only saw the sea ... There must be some tale telling ·of a wife who bred a son upon the Spanish coast then died before her sailor husband came . ... From the beginning of ships the sea was always making misery water and wave, water and wave again. On life the ocean stained with memory where are the ships? but none can say today. ( The ships are gone and men remain to show with a strong black skin what course those keels had cut. 6 MARTIN CARTER ""Listening to the Land' ~ That night when I left you on the bridge I bent down Kneeling on my knee and pressed my ear to listen to the land. •• I bent down listening to the land but all I heard was tongueless whispering ------~, ------. --- --. --- ) KYK-OVER-AL 67 On my right hand was the sea behind the wall the sea that has no businesil in the forest • and I bent down listening to the land but all I heard was tongueless whispering. • the old brick chimney barring out the city the lan:;ern posts 1ike bottles full ot flre and I bent down listening to the land and all I heard wail tongueless whispering as if some buried slave wanted to speak agam, 7 A. J. SEYMOUR ...,• Name Poelll Beauty about us in the breathe of names Known to us all, but murmured over softly Woven ~o breath of peace If but a wind blows, all their beauty wakes. Kwebanna on the Waini Indian words And peace asleep within the syllables. Cabacaburi and the Rupununi Reverence is guest in that soft hush of names. For battle music and the roll of drums, The shock and break of bodies locked in combat , The Tramen Cliff abov~ Imbaimadai Guiana, Waini are cousin water words ...... The Demerary, Desakepe and Courantyne Flow centuries before strange tongues bewitch Their beauty into comm()n county names. Through all the years before the Inaians came Rocks at Tumatumari kept their grace, And Tukeit, Amatuk and Waratuk • Trained ear and eye for thundering Kaieteur . • And there are mountain tops that take the sun • Jostling shoulders with seaward-eyed Roraima These Amerindian names hold ancient sway Beyond the European fingers reaching, Forever reaching in, but nearer coast _.------.-~.------.~.-- - -~ KYK·OVER.AL Words born upon Dutch tongues live in our speech The sentinel that was Kykoveral Beterverwagting, Vlissengen and Stabroek • And sonorous 0011 of bells in Vergenoegen For French remembrance, Le Ressouvenir, The silent and great tomb of an exile's anguish, Le Repen';ir that city of the dead ...... • Simple the heritage of English names Hid in Adventure, Bee Hive, Cove and John, And Friendship, Better Hope and Land of Canaan. Garden of Eden and ...... so Paradise. Out west are places blessed by Spanish tongues Santa Rosa, white chapel on a hill ...... Beauty about us in the breathe of names, If but a wind blows, all their beauty wakes. 8 W. HAWLEY BRYANT The Song of Guiana"s Children • Born in the Land of the Mighty Roraima, Land of great rivers and far stretching sea; So like the mountain, the sea and the river Great w~de and deep in our lives would we be. ( CHORUS Onward, upward, may we ever go Day by day in strength and beauty grow, Till ,at lengt,h we each of us rna", show What Guiana's sons and daughters can be. Bern in the land of Kaieteur's shining splendour Lan,d. of the palm ,tree. tne croton and fern, We would possess all the viriues and .graces, We a'll the .glory of goodness would lea,rn. , Born in the land where men sought EI Dorado, I Land of .t.he diamon.d and bright shining gold, We would build up our faith· love and labour, God's Golden city which never grows Old. ______~. ~, ~,------~h------~· ------Ii FRANCES HANDY PIERS , 9 The Old Sea Wall " I wish the old sea wall could voice The stirring tales it knows so well, ) Of white sails etched against the sky , And schooners lifting with the swell, Of Cargoes that were sem to sea On ships that found their last, long rest; The wall would knQw a splintered spar That caught upon its patient breast. • I wish the old sea wall could tell , Of freighters tha'; have travelled far, And liners that have dragged their keels .., Across the Demerara's bar, Of sun and storm and fisherfolk, Of wind and rain and flood, And of the tide that's running now • So red with river blood . 10 FRANCES HANDY PIERS Victoria Regia • I see you resting on a still, dark pool, Where trees dip down their traceries of lace; Your snowy petals blush with painted pink Where dawn first kissed your pale and lovely face. , Your fluted leaves are darkened, straying moons, That idly float throughout the drowsy day; But when the first night bird has called his mate, I know the water sprites come here to play. They dance upon your great, green wa ~e r pads, A dance no m ortal eyes have ever seen, And hail you as their Lady of the Deep, Lily of Lilies, Her Majesty. The Queen. 11 FRANCES HANDY PIERS Guianese Garden o deep pink Rose, how gay you are As I walk by, Forget-me-nots lie at your feet Like bits of sk y. KYK-OVER-At. , The morning glories riot on A trellis frame, And loveliness must mean to them • More than a name. And in the shady spots I find Things hidden there: Shy purple bloom tha: nestle down, And maidenhair. Hibiscus wear their trumpet blooms On a green gown, And coralita scales the fence To weave a crown. • Upon the beauty that I have, God gave to me The wonder ( )f a living red Flamboyant tree. 12 F RANK E. DALZELL iThe River .Demerara This river mud-brown runs for winding miles pregnant with sil: she's garnered on her journey to the crystal sea moving at first a snail's pace, then with nervous haste past walls of dens'e impenetrable green, past mushrooom sites and homesteads wrapped in solitude, ( past spacious land ...... deep-bosomed eager to suckle, nourish, tend the settler who will dare to chance adoption. Onward she winds, flanked here and there by hives of industry, shaking her hips to sure attract the bold ... . adventuroll ~ sometimes to doom; for thus she fascinates, And her silence always, curious minds will try :0 penetrate. "What secrets," they all ask her, "are shrouded in your opaque depths? "What havoc have you wrought in pandering to conceit? "What misery brought to countless homes when swollen full with greed you stole from us our prized possessions ?" These questions all unanswered go, for Sphinx-like, imper turbable, serene, this Guianese Dame, with flirting put behind smoothes down her skirt and runs quite shamelessly straight seaward to her husband's open arms. ------~- -- .------_._- - - -,,------I , I •: bONALD A. B. TROTMAN (JNR.) , Essequiho , I saw them there beneath the palms at dawn Hugging arms full of night; Half-naked night strip-teasing In the moonlight slowly passing With red-rimmed eyes among Whispering salt-leaved kouridas: I saw them there upon the sand at dawn. They looked like music-makers dreaming dreams In an unearthly sleep. , West Indian lovers living In a lotus-laden slumber; With half the moonlit beauty Dancing around their eyes: The other half had felt the touch of day. Sea water lapping round the cuckeri: palms Heard their soft whispers shift The little purple patches, Little cloud-etched sentinels Guarding the night from day But their love laughed at time: They left me gazing still amid the palms. 14 JAMES W. HARPER-SMITH To a Dead Silk· Cotton 'free Your little tongues once whispered in the breeze And sang sweet music in the traveller's ear. Soft silken parachutes, like swarming bees Once bore y>Our children from your arms. The air With gentle fingers planted armies to Your glory. Tell me, now that death has shorn Your tresses, kissed you 'til your giant limbs Stiffened into spectral resignation, What are your thoughts? Your strong brown roots still drink The waters of the Ess'equibo: still Erect you hold your proud and massive trunk. Death, with his leprous touch, could pot. destroy Your noble form. But now your lips are sealed; No more I hear the music of your voice ..... What are your thoughts, I ask, what are your thoughts? • , 15 QUENTIN RICBMOND. On the Sands of Leguan The sun sets on Leguan As I lie listening to the clear brown waves Washing-swishing-breaking in creamy foam On the sands of Leguan. An undulating foamy line Creeps slowly up the shelving bank, Curving around with grace to where The thin long limbed courida trees Sway backward from the water's edge Waving gently, firmly rooted On the sands of Leguan. " A cooling breeze blows on the river Sends water to meet sand. • The rippling river's coldly watching sentinels Tall courida trees - stand firm As watery tentacles fan out to close them around For Essequibo's charging On the sands of Leguan. A mist beyond the trees dimly reveals distant islands Did not the sand before me show light brown? Light brown one moment - dar kened in the next Then silvered-dampened-overcome outright. But sun set slowly On the sands of Leguan . • The courida trees have joined the sea. A little dark brown breadth is now What was a light brown broad expanse. The foamy line breaks not, but presses on and conquers As the sun sinks in the West. Now Essequibo reigns supreme On the sands of Leguan. 16 IGNATIUS GLEN Mineena A maiden loved me once She an Indian I, to her thoughts • Of loftier race. But still love's flooding urge Moved her to express the chaste 'emotion of her soul , , • KYK-OVER-AL 73 , In the faint hope that I • Her man-god and her star lVlight prove responsive to her passion. One night I stood alone Upon a hillock's peak. • The moon above, her silvery ghost-radiance around; Below, the se ~ tle m en t's twinkling lights And from the caverns of the night , The Boo-too-too's mournful call. Mineena stole to me, handed a spray of pure white buds Told in a language strange love's sacred tale Outpoured her soul in one embracing look And fled. I should have followed if I loved the maid To where she waited in the shadows. I should have pledged her love And broke the seal of maidenhood betokened by the buds. But, ,he language of her act not understood, Mineena saw her heart as being unwanted, • Then how the flame of unrequited love did burn her soul. My work was done, Around me was the world of Steamer-days: Woop of the river -hoat's whi::;tle, Swirl of blade and boiling water Stelling-porters' wild confusion patches, tug and tumble. Sandy smell of ground provisions, Whiffs of fried fish, nuts and crushed ice, Boviander belles, giggling at the mad uproar Stench of boiler-smoke, crash of landing stage > And city dreams. Rushing by with gathering ;;peed In a lonely nook, I saw A maid, madonna-like Clasping a spray of pure white blossoms to her breasts. Misty eyes star-shining with the light of grieving love, Bare toes seeking solace in the sand; It was Mineena, weeping and alone . • Horrid scream in m idnight dream Frenzied chase by phantom woman Fitful gurgling red blood spurting From the lips mysteriously. "Oh my darling. S1 ;;::;7' ~ lp',:,.n the Breast that keeps you Mermaid Lulu Water cannot wake you ever." • • - '------17 VERNON pARRIS Moonlight at Apoteri , The sinking sun proclaims the approach of night, And queenly Luna, full and fair of face Seems but to wait the bedding or her lord Ere she rE:flects, like to a mirror, the rays Of his departing splend·o ur. Lower still he sinks < Higher and higher yet she climbs, till now Surrounded by a million lesser lights Like to as many twinkling lamps, she rides Resplendent, beauteous, in the star bedecked dome Of Heaven. And now has light strange shadows cast On Apoteri's hill. The cashew trees Like sentinels on either side the office ,. Rustle in remonstrance their leaves With fitful zephyr which disturbs their ease. The cows, in peaceful quiet, sniff or gaze At grotesque shadows which their forms have cast. The while the never ending cud they chew In the sheepcote, the b leat of some young lamb Is heard. The ribald songs Of bleeders relaxing in their hammocks, 'ere they Depart blend with the noises of the night. The queen of night, full orb'd her course pursues Like to some precious ungent, her cold pale light Pouring on 'earth and all things which the sun In his fierce heat has kissed. Out on the river A belated Indian in his woodskin glides Hoping around the bend the night with friends In a cassiree 'spree' to spend. 18 J. W. CHINAPEN Albion Wilds • Dear Solitude ! Where peace and concord dwell, Whose smiling beauties quell The soul's inquietude. Under thy shade, Thy sanctuaries calm, My spirit knows no storm; And fear and tumult fade. ------_. ------_ .. _------KYK-OVER-AI. 75 How sweet at morn, To see high heaven's arch, I Made glorious with the march Of Phoebus' bright return; To see the rays ~ . • Come peeping through the trees, And hear sweet symphonies ( Ring through the woodland ways ~ In heat of noon, How sweet it is to lie 'Neath leafy canopy • And hear the wren's shrill tune , In ripples slide, • > Like a small stream that flows Over a pebbly course • Down from a mountain side! >. At eve how sweet I To see the herons home, And out the young birds come Their parents glad to greet! Alas! I'll leave These pictures soon or late When Death knocks at my gate, .' For this should I then grieve? , I shall not die : Are not the sky this tree, , Parts of the very "Me". And the eternal I? Only this clay Shall find its former home, ) Still shall my essence roam In Thee to endless day. I love this grove, Its birds and flowers and woods, For o'er these beauties broods The Omnipresent Love. 19 CECIL CLEMENTI Rorahna , Gigantic altar-table of our God Roraima. Towering heavenward, and set Foursquare with cliff-walled, awful parapet Bastioning those majestic heights untrod Whither the Most High summoneth the soul Upward through fragments of a shattered world, ( Ramparts of ruin that a Titan hurled To bar the pilgrim-spirit from its goal. o bid us struggle higher still and higher Through treacherous jungles, past yon waterfall Aghast at chasms where death makes foul grimace Up sliupery ledges of the heart's desire Till in Ll-)e Holy of Holies at thy call - We meet the God of Glory face to face. 20 WILSON HARRIS Savannah Lands ----- Lands open To sunshine and sky And to the endless winds Passing their eternal rounds. Lands that hold in their bosom Space like a benediction. Lands smoky with their dreams Tha: drift acros the world Like memories of ancient beauty dimly recalled Lands full of the music of birds • Crying softly a vague and formless meditation To the measureless skies ...... when the listening cattle Lift their quiet h~ads Dreaming their dream, so solitary and wise. 21 JAN CAREW Manarabisi Legend that stelling bore was hard as green heart core of piles driven into heart of a river: + reapers watched boatmen come and go till Hanna voices jarred th~ dust, and white cranes winged their way complacently KYK-OVER-AL 77 ) I to nests in long savannahs: , green grass pointed legions of sharp blades like warrior's spears abandoned on pavemtmts of streets of eternity, for dark evenings " .. hen voices spoke with singing of frogs and piper owls played throaty melodies in orchestra of silent trees. " Who parted long night to breach dawn when life was a cave of green dungeons, 'exploded peripheries of light, while death sailed dreaml1:!ssly on a dark river. Burning eyes peered from window to watch green galaxies crowding the world, Islands of grass roooed in moving tides, tall cocerite palms leaning to gaze at images ! in dark pools of sky and water. > The hungry heart leapt from hard stelling of life rippling mirror-still pools of death, , bursting like flower of concentric rings to wash grim hope on shores of time. Howler baboons rent morning with roaring, heralds of memesis feeding on berries from Lang John trees. Life was a blood-stain, crimson like cocks-comb flower red as wild orchids and legend remains hard as green-heart core , of piles driven into heart of a river. 22 JAN CAREW Barakara ) Dark the charcoal river flowed ceaselessly and burnished like red blaze of flower it bled in sunset like wounded beast clinging to arms of trees, to golden-green grass, to roots invisibly clawing the world for life on paved streets of eternity. Wounded the river slept in dea,h , and resurrection was the dawn: " uncloyed appetite of sun fed ruthlessly on green life of reapers again. Church bells rang and 'echoes beat like mellowing of fitful breezp. against walls of trees. The living world wore green .' T garment to spand the poles of heaven, dark heavens and bright hells I possessed secret hearts that answered churchbells. ~------, 23 CECIL CLEMENTI I(aietuk \ Slow, forest-girt Potaro, half-asleep And black with brooding on an ominous dream Sent from the misty mountain-crags that seem Thy nursing mothers, 0 awake and leap ( And roar in cataract-thunder from the steep And plunge with foam-flaked, opalescent gleam Stared at by cliff and cavern, in supreme, Headlong adventure; Even as thou who keep Life's tenor calm and cloistered, till amazed They chance in all men's sight on an abyss Twixt them and heaven, and on the instant dare The noble h3zard, conquer, and, though dazed, Yet throb with the incommunicable bliss Of triumph torn from uttermost despair. 24 PAT, A. LAWRENCE I(aieteur • Wonder of the tropics Silver-sheened Kaieteur, Pouring from Elysium Joy forevermore! Soaring past the shadow ( Of inhuman war, Trailing bright blue h eavens For Truth's guiding Star! Singing 'midst the tempest Love's unwear ying strain, Changing sun-kissed rain-drops " Into Love's refrain, Like a mighty spectrum Breaking up the light, In radiance prismatic Flashing rainbows bright! Wonder of the tropics T G!ory-gemmed Kaieteur, Pour to realms of glory Glory evermore. -,------~-., ------. -'------25 WALTER MAC A. LAWRENCE ' of Kaieteur And falling in splendour sheer down from the height that should gladden the heart of an -eagle ~o scan, - • That lend to the towering forest beside thee the semblance of shrubs trimmed and tended by man, - That viewed from the brink where the vast amber volume that once was a stream cataracts into thee, Impart to the foothills surrounding the maelstron beneath thee that rage as the troublous sea, The aspect of boulders that border a pool in the scheme of a rare ornamentalis ~'s plan, Where, where is the man that before thee is thrilled not that scorneth the impulse to humble the knee, With the scene of they majesty resting upon him, and conscious of flouting some terrible ban? Who, who can behold thee, 0 glori'Ous Kaieteur, let down as it were from the fathomless blue, A shimmering veil on the face of the mountain obscuring f its flaws from inquisitive view, Retouched with the soft, rosy glow of the morning and freaking the flow of desultory light, - Or bathed in the brilliant translucence of noontide a mystical mirror resplendently bright. Or else in the warm sanguine glory of sunset, a curtain of gold with the crimsoning hue Of the twilight upon E or drenched in the silvery flood of the moonlight subliming the night, And feel not the slumbering spirit awaking to joy in the ) infinite greatly anew? 26 IVAN WELCH Kaietuk They led him through the forest wild, ,) '" The old Macusi, Kai by name; - Along the ancient forest path, I, A path where deer and jaguar trod, Where he too once had crept along To stalk the labba, long ago. • Past greenheart trees of mighty girth, Their trunks with moss all covered o'er, , -,; , 'Neath boughs and branches laden full With flaming orchids, lovely ,rare, ! They led him to Potaro's bank; Po taro's bank where he must die, Must die though old a warriQr's death. • 80 KYK-OVER-AL They placed him in a woodskin frail, They placed a paddle in his hands, His hands so thin and frail to see, \ And pushed him out upon the stream, Then said farewell to the old man Who feeling near Death's cold approach, Had bade his sons : 0 lead him forth, To lead him to the river's edge, And place him in a woodskin bare, To paddle to him longed-for rest. • No peaceful death did he desire, Su'rrounded by his friends and kin Who sought his restless spirit to soothe, With chants, and charms, and talismans; Nay, a warri'or's death he choose to die By braving with courageous heart The Torrent called Po: aro's Fall. Old was Kai, and weak, and frail; Upon his stooped frame and small His wrinkled skin in loose folds hung; Only his eyes did seem to live, And shine with an unearthly light As he upon the stream was borne. What scenes did pass those orbs before • To make them glitter thus and shine? Methought he saw back down Life's trail, Himself a hunter, young and strong, He felt his muscles tense and taut As bow he bent in his firm grasp, He heard the deer give cry, then fall His arrow deep within its heart. All this he saw and more beside As he upon the stream was b-orne. The taste was still upon his lips Of fresh casiri, potent, strong. He felt again as old men feel The fiery passions of his love. Again its raging flames did burn, And make his feeble heart to race As it had done once, long ag·o. But gone were now those lusty years, Quite gone the fury of his loins, the taste for drink, Quite gone to pleasure of the chase, And only Age :remained and Death to come, Dark Death the Door to no one knows. SWIft ran the current now and strong, And rumbling boomings filled the air. The dark brown waters sparkling foamed, Beneath Guiana's tropic sun, And on sped Kai, a brave old man, To dare Potaro's mighty leap. ------_.. .._------KYK-OVER-AL 81 The fTail woodskin spun round and round, < The paddle useless in Kai's grasp, Useless against the b>Oiling surf, Which bubbled, whirled and raced along. But still sa~ Kai, a brave old man, His glittering eyes now all ablaze, His nostrils wide, dilated wide, { His bony frame all taut and tense To brave Potaro's mighty leap. The blazing sun upon him shone, The wind was blowing wild his hair, The roaring sounds tumultuous now Filled all the aid and filled his heart As poised upon the ,brink he was. One instant poised, and from his lips there broke a cry, • A cry cut short and swallQwed up, As hurled he was righ~ o'er the ledge, And dashed against the rocks below, • And rose again as mist • Which changed the sunlight pouring down To myriad-coloured rain bow hues. { Long, long ago this old man lived, .... Long, long ago he dared to brave Potaro's awful, mighty Fall, • But e'en now men who round here dwell. When night upon the Forest falls, Hear still, commingled with the roar, The mighty Torrent's mighty roar, A cry cut short; A cry which hurls at Nature's might , The challenge of a fearless Mind. 27 A. J. SEYMOUR • The Legend of I(aieteur I Now Makonaima, the Grea ~ Spirit dwelt In the huge mountain rock that throbbed and felt The swift black waters of Potaro's race Pause on the lip, commit themselves to space r' And dive the half mile to the rocks beneath Black were the rocks with sharp and angry teeth And on those rocks the eager waters died, Lost their black body, and up the mountain side, Above the gorge that seethed and foamed and hiss'ed Rose resurrected into lovely mist 82 KYK-OVER-AL The rock He lived in towered a half mile high So that it seemed a rival to th~ sky And over it this living mist He drew To curtain off Divinity from view. He give it too the privilege to choose To take the glory of the r ainbow's hues To wear at morning, and for changed delight The marvellous sunsets of the ,ropic night. From day to day, behind this rainbowed screen, The Father, the inscrutable, uns'een, • Would ponder on His Domain of the earth And all the nations He had given birth. And He caused flowers to weave upon the ground Their rich 'embroideries, and He set them around The village wh ere each tribe worked all day long A veritable tapes~ry of song From birds that in the branches built their bowers And spent w ithin the shade quick musical hours. So every wind blew peace and fortune down From the sweet heavens, and everywhere was sur,g A song of praise to the Great Spirit above That fathered ~ hem in kindliness and love. , And every moon each tribe would come and float Upon the stream a sacrificial boat Newlcar ved and painted, laden \VItO. fish and fruit And watch it gain speed as it neared and shoot Over the rock into the gorge below. And as ,he waters, so the centuries flow Until the savage Caribishi came And put the Patamoona to the flame. They came by night and took them in their sleep Slaughtered the guards and drove away the sheep Ravished the women, burnt their huts and fields, Despi ~'e their warclubs and their wooden shields, A few, the merest remnant, took to flight And under shelter of the friendly night Escaped from the pursuing torches sent To slay them in the caches where they went. These took the :errible tidings of the raid To the far camp their restless kin had made On the Rotaro that the feud was awake And counsel what defences they could make. Old Kaie was chief in counsel. He was wise Over a hundred seasons had those eyes Seen in their passage. Time had made them dim But with its wisdom compensa: ed him He knew the cures for all men's ills and fears And he had words for women in their tears ------KYK-OVER-AL 83 '1'0 comfort them. He sat all day and talked Unto the tribe, for painfully he walked On legs like rotten trunks wherein chigoes , Had nested and made caves of all his toes. \ Ju s~ now he counselled, "Since our arms are small I and another to the mountain wall • Will go to question Makonaima's will What He requires that we must fulfil In sacrificial offerings. He is kind His orders will chase fear out of our mind". Then someone murmured "But can Kaie's feet stand The troublesome journey through steep, rocky land?" Flame sprang to Kaie's eyes, "Will you never learn, From wha: the mind wills, body will not turn?" j So the next morning laboured up the slope Kaie and the one other with their ropes Strapped r ound their backs, their bags of magic art ( With all the stuff that in their spells had part. Kaie's fee ~ oft staggered and the westering sun .~ • Was swallowed up by night, the day was done Before they came upon the slab of stone That ends the path to the Great Spirit's home. Alone • They stood while the vast starry night was full Of falling water . Kaie feE his fellow pull His arm. "Look there", "Yes, Makonaima's birds, They are H is messengers ,they speak his words. , These small black cruiser birds, they fly in flocks And feed on lana seed among the rocks." And now the birds made swoopings round the pail' , And chattering, brushed Kaie's cheek and kissed his ear. Twice, thrice, they did this. The with sudden flight They wheeled and veered off through the seeing Night. Then in a voice that swelled and sank and broke • WEh the great wealth of joy he felt, Kaie spoke "Oh, great is Makonaima and the words That He has spoken by message of His birds I must go down the passage of the river That I may sit before His face for ever In His great house, the 'everlasting rock. And He has promised that no harm, no shock ) Shall bruise our people, for His watch and ward Shall circle us and He shall be our guard. I am accounted for a sacrifice , For all the tribe. You with your younger eyes Shall s'ee the offering that you may tell How boldly Kaie clasped such a death, how well He lost his life to save his threatened race And shadow them with the eternal peace". 84 t{YK-OVEn-Al.. So in the morning, while the dim mist wreathed . And the fall thundered and the deep gorge seethed That other sat at vantage by the wall \ And scanned the river to the waterfall. He saw the sun o'er peep the world and throw Tide after tide of golden ray and gl'Ow Against the fall, flood full on its attire, Its misty veil, and catch that mist afire. Amazed, he stared. The opalescent light Deepened and sank and changed. Then in his sight Below the point that Kaie had bid him mark He saw Kaie in a sacrificial bark. The frail boat bobbed and bucked within the grip Of the live waters that hurried it to the lip Over the abyss. Kaie then raised his tail Huge bulk in the boat and towered over the fall, A cruciform over the flaming mist Then with a force that nothing could resist, The boat rent all that misty veil in two, . Drawing a dark line d'own the rainbow hue. But of Kaie's body never showed a trace, He sat with Makonaima before His face. 28 FRANCES HANDY PIERS I Do Not I{now I came to live within the sudden South Where dawn grows fast, and darkness, In a moment, is complete; Where tangled trees drop lianas to the ground To twist among the tight growth underneath; And frogs, silent by day, worship The Night God's marching feet. I grew to love the tall, plumed palms that wave Their fronds against the depth of Southern sky, .r To know the trades that blow so e verlastingly, And name the blooms that shame mankind's most brilliant dye. But I am Northern. The blatant sunshine palls, The small winds lose their soft allure And I would roam; r But yet, when I return tQ have the North, And her alone, I find I do not know, Just which is home. .. 29 C. E. J. RAMCBARITAR-LALLA The Weeding Gang I know the girls are coming, For I hear the gentle humming Of choruses they're singing on their way; I hear their saucepans jingling, And their cutlasses a-tingling, Which as their music instruments they play. They fill the silence after, With their peals of m erry laughter Which float upon the pinion of the air; And also ease their walking . Wi ,h some idle silly talking, With kheesaz· and boojhowalst very queer. Thcn once again their singing They resume, until the ringing Of their voices mingles with the whistling breeze; - I love to see their faces With their smiles and subtle graces, And I love to hear their charming melodies. " Stories t riddles. 30 EDGAR MITTELHOLZER NIeditations of a Man Slightly Drunk I came, and they drunkened me lightly With a medley of liquors. There was falernum, There were literary disagreements, Poetical dissonances. , Yes, but chiefly there was rum. They talked to me of stanzas, The ancient and the very mOdern. They broached even painting, Haggled about form, Over Epstein concorded with reverence. Yes, but chiefly there was rum. . ., We jabbered of pendulums, P endulums that swung like my vision. They gesticulated and bawled Ranting about matter, Eulogizing imagery. Yes, but never forgetting the rum. We slashed at Swinburne, And we justly kicked old Kipling. We grimaced dreadfully at . Pater, How we hacked poor Donne, And sniffed at Rupert Brooke! Though, always, always, mind, There was the rum! 31 C. E. J. RAMCHARITAR LALLA .A Leaky House \ Drip drip drip All night long This simple song Kept ringing in my 'ears Drip drip drip. , Drip drip drip • On the bed, And on my head Its dripping music broke Drip drip drip. Drip drip drip In my soul Beyond control The music lingers still Drip drip drip. 32 FRANK E. DALZELL , Obituary of a Bum This lad was born Of parents poor: the weaker half of which Did nightly hire out her temple for ~ he next' day's meal; The stronger: a passion for rebellious liquids and a love For rolling numbered cubes possessed him whole. This lad grew up 'Midst sordid squalor, reeking stench and filth, Cramming his bowels full of salted rice, left over sous'e, 'Touch mango', anything to 'ease the gnawing at his entrails And Keep the lamp of life from burning low. He swift ran foul " Of vicious tentacles his lowly birth Had wrapped abou ~ him. Was put in storage till his plasma Paler grew and the dreaded bacilli moved in unhindered. In brief, he bade a quick farewell to life. This lad ne'er knew The thrill of life in full. The beauty rich r Of green fields in the early morn; of breeze and sky and sun. His fate, but for a fickle fling of Fortune's flaccid finger Could easily have mapped for him the strong creative ,urge. Instead, he lived a bum ...... he died a bum. - .--,------_. ------_ ., - • 33 :E:RB:E:RT MARTIN (LEO) ( Themes of Song Splendour of morning, splendour of even, splendour of night. Splendour of sun and stars, and splendour of all things bright, ( Splendour in deepest deep, and splendour in highest height, These are the themes of song. ) Beauty of ocean, beauty of river, beauty of lake, Beauty that comes in d reams, and the living hues that wake, I Beauty that gleams and glows far the very beautiful's sake; These are the themes of song. - Music that floods the soul in waves of delicious sound Music that gushes fresh, spontaneously around, Music in every voice and murmur of nature found. These are the themes of song. ,- 34 PRESTON O. CLARKE '. ~ We waited for the Dawn I waited for the dawn, the lazy dawn, I I, and the tired moon, its face so wan, I and the stars which never seem to run - We waited for the dawn. I waited for the dawn, the coming dawn, I and the silent-dropping morning dew, I and the cool, fresh breeze which never tires We waited for the dawn . • I I waited for the dawn, the ling'ring dawn, I and the night's black cloud clock flying, I and the silver light which greets the sun - We waited for the dawn. I waited for the dawn, the greying dawn, I and t..~e peering birds behind the leaves, I, and the waking fields which stir with life - We waited for the dawn. • I waited for the dawn, the fleeing dawn, I and the world, and the stars, and the moon that's gone I and the new--born day, whiCh never fails - We waited for the dawn. 35 PETEn RtJHOMAN A Tropical Morn \ • From out the Eastern sky are shot Bright shafts of golden light, And lo! their magic touch dispels The shades of ling'ring night The cool, soft air is redolent, With smell of fresh-blown flowers, And sakies, wrens, and kiskadees, A wake the silent bowers. The crow now leaves his quiet perch, High in some stately palm, And idly floats upon the wing, I Serene, majestic, calm. Anon, a humming-bird would flit Across the landscape fair, And soft the gentle doves would coo, Within some covert near. The gaudy-coloured butterflies \ Forsake their dark retreat, And swallows from the eaves Brnerge, The sunny morn to greet. Thick in the flowers, leaves and grass The glittering dewdrops lie And Nature in effulgence beams On earth, on sea, on sky. 36 WALTER MAC A. LAWRENCE Morning The rosy-tinted billows of the s!des in glory roll Across the bluE' and softly steal away; The morning's in the heavens and the morning's in my soul: I woke and found it there today. A new world's in the making right before my seeing eyoe s, And light and colour riot all round , From yonder blazing sundawn painting pictures in the • skies, To this bejewelled carpet on the ground. ------_._-----_. ------J F. E. BRASSINGTON I 37 Daybreak The perils of the night turn to roses I When the dawn comes up, And the green grass drinks deeply Of the Heaven's shining cup, And the Cattle with their keepers Shake off the mis ~y sleep, That night, with its stars, throws round them The earth, and all the waters deep. I awoke, and all t he m orning sky With wassail-clouds and bright v t:! rmillion dye Was filled, and filling to the brim The ocean rushed upon the sand and in the bay Full • 38 E. H . REIS Welcome April Sunshine and showers, Butterflies, flowers, Laughter of children, The lengthening hours, Gorgeous colours, Rich perfumed bowers, Gay fun and frolic, The month for lovers. Sounds so enchanting From birdies and bees, Winds softly whistling In murmuring trees Time for achievement, By w omen and men Never so resolute As they may be then. , Bright month of April, r Most welcome indeed, In your enchantment We'll surely succeed. 39 L C. DAVIS Day of Delight \ • Day of delight, canst thou come now And bring the things we love to see ? Day of delight, with any vow I'll vow to own and cherish thee. Come now with the brighter borning Of a golden-gilded morning Let the east be filled with gladness, Drive the sable-visaged sadness From the little realm where we, Joying o'er our happy hours, Piay and sing with splendid powers, Waiting till the sun if flaming, Waiting here with hearts unblaming 4 On the sands besides the sea, Day of delight, canst thou come now And bring the things we love to see? Day of delight, with any vow I'll vow to own and ,cherish thee, \ Come now with your brightest smiling While we lovers sit beguiling Time bereft if all its sorrows, Thinking nothing of tomorrows, Since we wish for nothing more Than to sit with fond hearts beating, Watching the se's steeds repeating PreEy pranks with full manes flying, Gaily everything defying Here beside this sand.strewn shore. 40 LAURA TING-A-KEE Waves ( Turbulent, pain-racked waves -. , Restlessly ahurn~g, I Endlessly turning. Fascinated, I' stand atop the wall And gaze, in unwilling thrall, At this witches' brew, this hellish cauldron of bOiling murk. Straining at their leashes, Booming, bellowing, Screeching, thundering, Frothing they come to hurl themse.1ves sans heed ------_.----- _ .•. _ ------._------KYK-OVEli-AL 91 I At this white wall which will not yield, Intent on the rape of the land and miles of verdant green. Nearer and still nearer, With heart fast beating, With eyes wide staring, I go, and the waves call me, beckon me I D own to the thunderous depth of sea To drown forever the restless throbbings of my own heart. Turbulent, pain-r acked waves Restless churning, Endlessly turning, With difficulty I wrench my eyes away, I turn my back on the hypnotic sway Of that witches' brew, that hellish cauldron of boiling murk. 41 A. J. SEYMOUR Buttereup ----- There are wedding-belled carnations • Always nodding, never tall, Huge hibiscus set aquiver F laming from a live green wall, H eavy dahlias drooping over All imperially dyed, On the grass's light green carpet Golden daisies, starry-eYEd, But the flower to take my fancy And ~o launch m y thought on flight Is the buttercup, that youngster Leaning out ~o catch the light. 42 WILSON HARRIS. Tell Me Trees: • What Are Yon Whispering? It is strange S tanding here Beneath the whispering trees , Far away from the haunts of men. Tell me trees! What are you whispering? When I am dE'ad • I shall come and lie Beneath your fallen leaves ...... But tell me trees', 92 KYK-OVER-AL What are you whispering? They shall bury me - Beneath your fallen leaves. I My robe shall be Green, fallen leaves. My love shall be Fresh, fallen leaves. My lips shall kiss Sweet, fallen leaves. I and the leaves shall lie together , N ever parting I and the leaves shall always lie together And kr..ow no parting. It is so strange Standing here Beneath the whispering trees! Tell me, trees! What are you whispering. 43 - N. E. CAMERON - The Travelle~'s Palm \ Not slender grace here moves our lips To praise, nor lofty height; 'Tis a pale-green fan with fluttering tips - A refreshing tropic sight. Fit 'emblem of consistency Worn travellers must have thought her, For her bosom holds a legacy - A stream of crystal water. 44 HENRY W. JOSIAH And so the Tears The tender wind's thin fingertips Brushed lovingly o'er the land's lips ( And in the airless courts of Heaven , There was a stifled sorrow such As only angels feel who once knew much Of the wind's love. And so the tears, I think, come quickly Down in the swiftly slanting rain While the wind wails bleakly Over swollen-eyed streams wherein Is raised the rippling murmur Of an answering sorrow. • I 45 A. J. SEYMOUR • Carrion Crows I Yes, I have seen them perched on paling posts Brooding with evil eyes upon the road, Their black wings hooded and they left these roosts When I have hissed at them. Away they strode Clapping their wings in a man's stride, away Over the fields. And I have seen them feast - On swollen carrion in ~he broad ·eye of day, Pestered by flies, any yet they never ceased. But I have seen them emperors of the sky, Balancing gracefully in the wind's drive With their broad. sails just shifting, or again Throwing huge shadows from the sun's eye To brush so swiftly over the field's plain, And winnowing the air like beauty come alive . ~ . • 46 FRANK E. DALZELL The Kiskadee I saw you once a bit of throbbing life So downy soft a breeze might blister you, But as the days engaged themselves in strife Against invading weeks, the yellow hue Upon your breast, your coronet of white, That gorgeolls russet brown enshrouding you 'Came symbols eloquent of darkes ~ night Preceding halcyon days of azure blue. I see you now adult all inches eight You wheel and dart across our cloud-swept skies, Your plaintless cry of Kiskadee but dies , Its chasf 'ning warmth drives out some heart's black hate. What power has dedicated you to be Maestro of Guiana's m~n s trels y . 47 PETER RUHOMAN To the I(iskadee Hail silver-throated, yeUow breas~, That would disturb my morning's rest; High on the tree, , So light and free, Pour forth your heaven-born melody. Dear creature of a sunny clime, From early morning to even time Your merry song, In accent strong, On gentle zephyrs floats along. Thou earliest of ~he feathered throng To greet the morning with thy song, What flood of joy \ Without alloy, Thou ceaseless pour'st from tree top high! At noonday heat from silent bower, Still flows thy song to cheer the hour, Thou need'st no rest; Divinely blest, , Can aught your homely joys moles~? At evening when the sun is low, Still on your rippling notes would flow, With artless skill, So sharp and shrill They seem my very soul to thrill • ( How oft I've tried to catch the note, That seems so merrily to float, Of Love unfeigned, Of Joys sustained. And never-ending peace attained. " ------.------48 RICARDO SIMONE ., The Sea Gull • • • As I strode upon the shore one day, A white form flut~ered and soared up high; Her gleaming body caught a last reflecting ray, Breaking the stillness with a hoarse and startled cry. 'to o maiden pure and weeping, o lady of the sea, I• Come back to me fur keeping, Come back and stay with me. ) - . In vain my eyes were searching I ) For the loved one of my mem'ry While she in s ~ ranger perching, ,: ~, Was pining away for me. I • The days went by and I returned each evening, To the shore where my lost love played, And with a heart ~hat was sad and grieving, I wished she had never strayed. , And now the sky is dreadful black, The sea is tumbling madly; Lo, the storm has brought my loved one back, ..• The waves have washed her up before me. LEO (EGBERT MARTIN). ) 49 The Swallow Who would not follow thee, swallow, in flight On clean, swift wings thro' the opal ligh~, Away in purple of setting sun, • With a mad, wild joy till the day is done? , Who would not sweep, like a flash, thro' and thro' The deep, vast void of the liquid blue, With never a care but to cut the air, • With never a heed but delirious speed, •• And a life a full life that is life indeed . Who would no! soar ever more and more, Till the great earth seems bu~ a spectre shore? Who would not be in a sphere like thee, Of glorious ether, for ever free? Who would not mount with a swifter speed Than the eye can follow or thought can heed; With never a pause save to gently float, On the sea of air like a drifting boat, With a soft, full breast and a curving thrQat. 96 KYK-OVEJ:{-AL Past river and lake past the hills of white, Past the houses' top at a dizzy height, , Past the silent lake thro' whose crystal breast Thy faint shadow flits like a spiritual guest, .. Past the low long lines of the great flat plains Where 'eternal silence forever reigns, So swiftly you fly now low and now high, In chase wi ~ h the clouds that lazily fly, A voyager voyaging joyously. I Who would not follow thee, swallow, in flight, In the cool, sweet air of the early night? When each star hung h igh with its cheerful eye, Drops golden treasu ~ e right gloriously, And the moon high hung like a censer swung. Floods a rare light ever fresh and young. Oh, who would not follow thee, beautiful swallow, I From life and its trials so trying and hollow? Who would not rise with a happy surprise Away and away into happier skies? 50 IGNATIUS GLEN The River in October' • Hey Ho. The East Wind blows The river dances Tall trees bow and rustle in a fury of delight And th€ plaitsj and the skirts Of the bonnie fisher-girls Go way-sailing out In the boist'rous caper of a glad October day. ., • Hey Ho. The East wind grows .( The river prances Like a h erd that frenzies for a mad stampede Hoom • The mad waves tumble Feel the shy shore tremble To the Titan's uproar • The maj'estic song and dance Of the wild winds and the wild waves Of a mad October day. So slow the West Wind moans. The river chances On a whisper that beguiles my soul to pray'r. Hush! The t€ars of evening • Still the fears of nooning In the holy dreaming Of the sad winds and the sad waves Of a sad October day. ------_.__ ._--_. - - _.------._ ------_. I • • 51 LEO (EGBERT MARTIN). • Twilight • , The twilight shuddered into gloom The trees stood trembling in the air And fiung their green umbrageous arms Above their wildly floating hair. ',. , , While saddened misereres fell Like organ-peals in full excess - From breezes equal fall and swell In agonies of biEerness, The morning aged to older day And burst in shreds of vivid light, Bestrewing on the lying way Its carnival of heat and light. The wind a wondrous "Gloria" rolled Deep through the cloudy arch of space, ,4 Chord after chord, whose notes of gold • Were smothered in the rhyme of grace . 52 JAMES W. HARPER-SMITH • Twilight I dance upon the brink of day And try to keep the night away. I stand between !he dark and light And ere the sun dives out of sight I borrow from his flaming rays The splendour of a million days. ) The rainbow in my hand I hold - · , Vermilion, russet, orange, gold! I strive to light the darkening sky; The day, I say, it shall not die! For who has seen the night so gay He would not change it for the day? .. And· though I lose th'uneven fight, I fill the inky sky with light. But countless eyes at night must play Where only one had ruled the day! • 53 DORIS HARPER Villanelle , At sunset when the sunbeams die Ere daylight fails completely, all The goddess nymphs go passing by. Winds whisper low with winds the 'why' , Of Nature, wavelets rise and fall At sunset when the sunbeams die. • The frog and bee agree to vie Their voices through day's darkling hall The goddess-nymphs go passing by. I The bold hibiscus, evening-shy Wraps up herself within her shawl At sunset when the sunbeams die. A withered moon flung westward high Hypnotic to the Bee's shrill call: , The goddess-nymphs go passing by. . ~ . ~ . ..~ • At sunset, when the breezes sigh For universal Eve's cool thrall At sunset when the sunbeams die, The goddess-nymphs go passing by. , 54 MARK STEELE Night's Dese.'.ent Fleeting douds race across a pink clad sky As in the South-East, trees and Towers fade, and seem to die; , , On the sea shore where the sea and sky are merged in one, Both seem to sense the fact tha ~ day is done. • Amid chilly breezes white foam sprays upon the coral rocks, As the curtain from the sky descends, casting shadows on the docks. In the town the lights are lit, like fairyland, a changing dream, A flock of birds seeking sanctuary, flit across the sky, their wings agleam. Soon a landscape is painted, a dazzling scene of flickering light, , Day is done, and ~ he island welcomes in the glorious night. ------' - . - ,.~------J , 55 DONALD A. B. TROTMAN (JnrJ "T 0 A Star"" • .----- Dear lonely, little star untouched by age; Silent ethereal waicher of the skies, Steadfast amid the world's unending maze Like some still witch to stellar lovers' eyes; How bridal-like across the interspace Of world and world, your still proceSSIOn • Seeming to step on' time and stay its progress For just one peaceful hour of inspiration: That to a poet with a lover's mind Must make earth s'eem eternal paradise! . ... What wishful heart accu!ltomed to recline On lawns of asphodels will not aris'e To lie with thee? Dear God! were I a feather On Cupid's dart tonight I'll mock the ether . . 56 C. E. J. RAMCHARITAR LALLA The Stars •• The Stars! Like fishes in the azure deep they play: Above the realm and Righteousness of Right, The base and cowardly Majesty of Might, Beyond the epicure and anchorite They shine alway. The Stars! Like fairy lamps they make a merry dance: • When all the world is wrapt in quiet sleep, A never ceasing vigil true they keep, And sing to soothe our souls with music deep - Our rest enhance. The Stars! • Like beads of pearls upon a tapestry Of richest azure hue they shine, Above ., Our efforts weak at charity and love, • Beyond our pigmy sense of faith and tove* • Th.ey shine on high. The Stars! Like leading lights they brighten up life's road; • Dear stars, I yield myself to yOur control; o ! send your fire to burn within my soul; Make me like you a perfect gem and whole, Great stars of God! " Friendship t Archaic 57 STANLEY HAMIL CAR WHITE Star of Eve , ------Star of Eve, wandering companionless Amidst the naked skiey blue, with pale Regards you view the mountains, hills and vales And fields at dusk. Deserted by the rest Of Heaven's meteors, from out the west You ris'e, while later on, by two's or three's • Or as the clus'.:ered milky way, all these Will traverse o'er the heaven's azure breast. < All these and you your twilight course must steer. Star of Eve, sallow in yxlur pensive brow, And lonely in high Heaven's crowded heart, You are like the soul of man, divinely fair, I That wanders o'er this sombre earth e'en now, And yet of it does share no earthly part. .' 58 J. W. HARPER-SMITH. To Luna _.-_ .. ' - I Praise to the gods who moulded from ~ stream of flowing flame, a face To shine with heavenly brilliance such As yours: and bathed your head in dew, And froze your v p.ry tears, that now Your smile with frigid beauty pierce The glooomy cloak of night, and warm The icy chambers of a heart! Queen of the night, supreme you reign • And ride upon the azure plains In chariots of the whitest foam, • With steeds that paw the vacant air! 5D JACQUELINE DE WEEVER Poem • • In a skirt of gentle breezes Over a star-strewn span The queen of Night carouses With her clan. " She is clad in moonbeam• s Her hair is held with stars Her skin, the tropic night. gleams With stardust bars. . ------.------' , KYK-OV~R-At. 101 , And through the clouds they sway On toes with outstretched arms In ethereal ballet Of Moonlit charms. Through the whispering sky Like a million guitars The breezes strum and sigh Upon the stars. They leave, to cobwebs cleaving The queen before them flees • • Their bodies ever weaving Mysteries. The wind sighs to the breathless leaves And round th~ lotus lilies evereal Delightful vagrancies. 60 HORACE L. MITCHELL. Night's Kiss Night kissed ~arth's lips In the eastern lanes of light, Just where the sun's flight From heaven's air ends And lends its gaiety to day Then she blushed into a russet sunset Of myriad modesties; Her dark hair of purple clouds Shifting shrouds of ethered 'ecstasy, , Falling across her face, Enthralling h er blush into ,;wilight loveliness. The scouting stars, ever s~nseful, sleeping The slumber of the day's obscurity • Sensed th~ magic of the kiss, And waking in their silver bliss Peeped the twinkling peep of piety peering And saw the amorous earth Steeped in the nectar of her joy Dissolving in the delights of darkness And of night's dreams; The moon, another lover, ; Hurrying slowly, lovely, from the sea To whisper "Good-night" in her ear, yearning, And watch her sleep till morning. .. - __n . ______.~~ 61 E. H. REIS "I Told Mv Heart" .' , I told m:y heart to be careful - For love is a cud-Dus thing Many an eye has been tearful From the bitterness it can bring. • My heart replied I am ready Have measured and counted the cost A dart thrown with aim true and steady Can never be counted as lost. A heart that is pierced by love's arrow I Is a heart that's alive and can feel Love's sweetness removes every sorrow - Its contentment, a balm that can heal. 62 JOHN GRIMES I Elise Go song and greet her, my lady! Coax kisses and smiles to her lips Sing, warble and croon to my lady A love song and whisper this. • , That I worship, adore her my lady ( As a votary kneels at his shrine Oh! my Goddess my Casseopeia Take my song and my heart, they are thine. • The orchids that bloom in the moonlight In their pageant of glory rejoice • And call to the rose and the lily, "She outshines us in beauty and poise". Had I that ambrosial apple I'd have ruthlessly scorned all the pleas Of Pallas and proud Aphrodite And elected my soul mate Elise. ------~. --_._ -- --_. ' ------_. - -- • , , 63 tCBERT MARTIN (LEO) My -Darling ., , I saw my darling standing Beneath the arbour where A flood of Golden sunlight fell And bathed her golden hair And I loved her more that moment • Becaus"e she was so fair . The purple grapes in clusters Hung tempting from the vine Their hearts well neigh to bursting In rivalry of mine For the joy that burned within me I could not well define. - She knew my thoughts were of her They lived upon my face And gladdened from my "eyes that loved 'fQ feed upon her grace, The gentle outlines of her form Once and again to trace. But when she smiled upon me With all a maiden's pride, And beckoned with her tiny hand A welcome to her side My cup of gladness overflowed And I was satisfied . • -~ , 64 EGBERT MARTIN (LEO) I Can no 'Longer Hide I can no longer hide the truth How dear thou art to me For to my every thought there comes A gladness born of thee Ah, ne'er I knew until this hour How sweet this life might prove If thou would breathe the sigh that tells Not all in vain I love, my love Not all in vain I love. 104 KYK-OVER-AL Thy shaded soulfulness of eyes, Thy brow as morning clear Thy simple grace ah, search my heart And find them hidden there. • No Hindoo guards his sacred charm With half such sleepless care, My soul's the casket thou my gem Fast locked and treasured there, ah there, Fast locked and treasured there. 65 JACQUELINE De WEEVER • Poem ----- When new moon's pallor blushes in the sky A fragile femininity I The jasmines will pour out their fragrancy The modest daisy then will close her eye - Then will I breathe your name. When suns·et capes the shoulders of the sea And heaven hangs her jewels in the sky And night comes riding up the east to die: , Then will I breathe your name 66 CECIL M. TULLOCH "A Dream~ ~ The stars in galaxy I see, A song with Holy tune I hear, The Moon in envy smiles on me , While Robins perch within my hair! Now clouds like lilies deck my feet And fragrant flowers adorn my brow The air with scents divine and sweet • • Is filled to overbrimming now! What transport this, what ·ecstasy!? How am I now surrounded here With prince Joy and Queen beauty And blissful mirth that good king dear? Oh Silent Moon! deny me not • But say what is it I dream of. Explain, dear moon, but banish not This stow'way in the land of love. ------67 CECIL M. TULLOCH "My Jewel" Roses pale in m eek surrender To her beauty sweet and fair; Lily's rough, while she is tender ! Orchids cannot half compare! • She is softer than the breezes Fresher than the twilight air! • Who can measure how it pleases Just to have my Flower near? Long and flowing curly tresses Reminding me of things sublime • Soft and willing fond caresses Hers to give till end of time ! And her heart is for m e yearning So will I contented be I rejoice, there's no r eturning From the sea of 'ecstasy ! J 68 DONALD A. B. TROTMAN (Jnr.) To Marian ----- • Still was m y heart as if the sweet of slumber ) Had lulled it into silence; congealed its beat; Enthralled it so that I could remember How life must feel cut off from this retreat : And yet felt joy in m y captivity ! o soft sweet voice that has this opiate powe r • • To blend my soul with a sublimity; .. I hear it still, when some unearthly hour Creeps in upon my time and makes me feel • Insensate to the things that compass me, Can time 'erasing moments dull th'appeal Of your sweet song, the spheres of harmony? , . ' , Then m y poor soul with earthly cares lies dying, And my last breath for mem 'r y's sake is sighing , , . DONAL I> A. B. TROTMAN (Jnr.) "Cave Cano" Send me a rose, dear, small and red and sweet • That would not wither with the warmth of kisses, Nor fold its petalled love beneath the sheet Of soft green leaves. Send me your long love tresses, That round my bosom would repeat The last night's slither of caresses, The silent urge of gentle presses. • Send me a smile, a tear, or what you will dear; A little token kissed a thousand times For mere lip-loving sake. But how I fear! How my affected heart must augur signs Of some small something that is near, ... Some worm that to the rose inclines But leaves an aspic trail behind ...... 70 C. E. J. RAMCHARITAR-LALL Lips Chalice-shaped alluring lips Where I take my .greedy sips Nectared drink to slake my burning heart, Than the beauty of the rose • Which within my garden blOWS, Warmer and more delicate yow' art. This my only boon of bliss; Give me but one little kiss, Grant my lips themselves on you to press; Force them, force them not away, • Let them but one moment stay, And enjoy one soothing short caress. Come my Love, enjoy your fill, Do not take your lips until You have drained my lips of Love the Bowl; • Quick, before our Time is spent, Take me to your heart's content, Rajah! press your lips upon my soul. ------_.-~ . - .•~ . -.------, 71 L. C. DAVIS I - Alphecca -y " The Spirit o'{ Loveliness • Mine was not a bitter rebellious mind That questioned. I stI'DVe but to leave behind True traces of t' eternal Beauty's plan Made man'fest in the hopeful heart of man. "Our Father," I muttered, and would have said The words some fondly mter till they're dead. • But something strange, strong and terrible s"eemed To stop the faithful flow I always de"emed Unquenchable. Words came, but not the sam'e, It seemed I called upon another name, And while my pulses quickened, sorely shocked, I gave out what I might have better blocked. "Thy good, 0 God, to us Thou has~ not given, Our Father," I said, "art Thou still in Heaven?" 'Twas balmiest of breezy, moonlit nights, Such time as suits t..'1e ways of sin-free sprites, - Fair, fleshless phantasms, who, from their high, Ethereal, trackless places in the sky Look down on mortal doings, and, at times E'en favour some in ~ hes "e storm-shaken climes. I thought of these whose woes upon them crept, I stared in silence long and then I slept. In dream she came, wonderfully bright, Like beauty woven from the best of light, My inmost being seemed to be afire, To speak to her was my one strong desire. , "Who art thou," I whispered, "~hat comest clad In glory like the stars? Wilt thou make glad , By thy sweet stay this old, imperilled place? Grant, if thou canst, grant us some of thy grace." Celestial music from I know not where Swept over me, such sounds as angels hear When golden Venus lays her lovely head • On the bles~ bosom of the Sun. She said: (The mystic melody of her soft voice ., Did more than make my weakened soul rejoice) . "I am Alphecca, who, from my fixed place, Has kept watch over thee through all the space Of thy life's perilously passing years And striven to save thee from the vale of tears, Wondering sometimes, if my lot would be To care too much, like mournful Merope, The lost Pleiad, who, for earth-born love, Gave all the splendours of the realms above. 108 KYK-OVER-AL And once, speeding with swift and splendid wings, Came zealous Zaniah, who ever sings Sweet songs, and pressed her charmed lips to thine, Saying, "This singer must fore"er be mine." But her enchanting wiles could not win thee, , For I fostered thy first felicity, And with many an artful motion drew To thee the best abiding in the blue Empyrean. Mine will be a great grief If thou art led astray by false belief." She paused: The air was filled with solemn sound , And groans seemed to come from out of the ground. Forthwith her eyes more keen she fixed on me And in clear, silver accents thus spoke she: "Blame not thy Father who has given thee grace, Pray to s'ee e'en the shadow of His face, This fair, emblossomed sphere is full of woe Because mankind has willed it to be so. Let the unhappy know 'tis their own kind Who fail to use the beauty of the mind. Think what the world would be for thee and thine If some sad day the sun should cease to shine But God, thy Father, is good; everyday He wakes thee with the sure unfailing sway Of heavenly harmony. His breezes give Source of satiety to all who live Inheriting the grandeur of the earth. o that ye knew what ye could 'earn from birth! Each man makes his own fate, and drawing on The winged impulse of his will, has won His way to good or bad. The Father gives To all alike, and one gone wrong yet lives Surrounded by the blessings of light and love That come to all from one good God above." , Again that sweeter strain of music came, Again my ardent feelings burned like flame. Nearer she swept, and, bending over me, Told in soft, perfumed whispers what could be. "Somewhere 'cross the sea is a lovely maid, Whose beautiful vibrating life was made To harmonize with thine. The only art • That will lead thee to her is a firm heart Made pure by prayer. I m yself will guide thee, But cannot if thy heedless thoughts wound me." Golden gleams mixed with glad sounds assailed me, , Then there was darkness left and mystery. I woke sublimely glad I was not dead, "Our Father, who art in Heaven," I said. ,~ ,I 72 L. C. DAVIS Flowers for You I brought these flowers that you with sweet kind smiles Might tell me thanks and play happily ( With the1r soft petals. I brought them though I be , Moved to feverish feeling, as, with no guiles. You charm my spirit with unconscious wiles • Bewitching, and fate hath cruelly Decreed that I must not forever be Yours, you mine; Yet share with me your smiles . • And you will nothing lose, though I shall gain Much more than you can guess; for when my heart Fails me and I can no more bear my pain My mind's last force will frame you there before me, And though my senses feel the last keen dart, I'll see you with my flowers bending o'er me. 73 EDWINA MEL VILLE Poem Savage moon, Poignant c,ry Of man For his mate And woman sultry Mocking With eyes of hate. , Lithe and lonely Walking Along a wall Red skirt Blown about her legs And long black hair Falling over shoulders Bare, and touching Breasts young and full Of pulsing life. Eager, nonchalant, A dreamer, Just strolling ) Along the wall, Knowing The man would follow. 74 EDWINA MELVILLE In the Night . '--- In the nigh ~ . whispering tender words Husky with suppressed emotion, I lie in your arms and wince. These are not the things I would hear from you This is not my love, This is man's lust, speaking " I see your 'eyes a smouldering sombre flame I touch your lips, soft yet, with the caress of youth Chasing the tiny wrinkles and furPOws from your brow. My hair hanging over my forehead wisps by your cheek And you wince, but not as 1. Hate in ~ he night Like a naked knife Clutched in a naked hand, Hate in the night, Such as you Would not understand. • 75 HELEN TAITT Poem • _ .' - --- He shall touch God who reaches out and weeps The poet in the valley, writing his homage, With still small words upon a mountain side. Dancers, taking the symphony's power, Sad bodies making beauty on a stage While lovers and dreamers and builders of words Water their hopes with their tears, . Without glory forever are you among men Who cannot weep - Unhappy are they among women who love you For you cannot love • Oh boy with the soulless eyes In the sunset no ecstasy, Oh saint with the tearless soul • How soon thy Gethsemane . • ------~ ------. -., ---~. ~----.-- . 76 EDGAR MITTELHOLZER October Seventh • I In me I am troubled, For the night is stilled, This moon a lone, dim globe; In me I am filled With unsettling passions That i~ch as a woollen robe; For t.~e night is warm Yea, stilled and weird, And I am troubled. This night did I see Eugenie. Eugenie this night was sad, Yea, troubled, For the trees did see me a cad, The trees that were quiet In this un breathing night . • Yes, in me I am troubled, By some hungry want That stirs in the hollow of me, And will haunt, Will haunt me long after This night with my passion, This night that is warm and stilled, Hath been brushed aside, In my usual fashion, With a smile and a chuckle And my empty laughter 77 CLEVELAND W. HAMILTON Helle ----- Her eyes are diamond orbs which speak in any tongue A tale of lust; Her locks, deft twists of ashen hair, Fall on her shoulders Like small serpents hissing guile And her lush lips are m~arly roses tipped with savoury dews; Though they too sing a little of the song of craft and lust. Those of the chest Are mannered, awesome things Which know their places, though they'd Heave in tumult in the fleeting bliss Of one firm, fulsome c1asp; Her hips are rotund, Carved in fresh, clear lines Like some great sculptor's Aphrodite. She should be held with tremulous hands, Hugged with a gurgling passion, And smitten with a full and fervent kiss. 78 IGNATIUS GLEN "Lulu Water" • Once I loved a woman She was beau ~i ful and true Tender and enchanting as a Rose. Locked in ~ove's sweet slumber horrid dream. She darted from her pillow with a scream And the fy:enzy of her start Spurred her to impart The dread unwanted vision of her palpitating heart. "Gloating snarling eyes ' of human Grasping claws of maddened woman Leaping at me from the ocean Killing me, Oh, my God." "Hush, my darling, Sleep upon the breast tha~ loves you Mermaid Lulu Water will not catch you ever". Swimming in the river Laughing in the water Like a sylvan nymph at play Thrilling me with mischief's banter matchless Rose. And the s·oftly rippling water , Framed her form like angel's daughter And her pyes like crystals clear Sparkled merrily and dear So I stopped ~ o lift and kiss her When her cry rang out of unsurpassing agony and Fear "Staring bloody 'eyes of human Piercing claws of maddened woman Stabbing at me from the ocean Killing me, Oh, my God." "Hush, my darling. Peace within the arms that hold you Peace within the arms that hold you Mermaid ,Lulu \Vater wwill not catch y>Ou ever." Sleeping by the river • Colder than ~ he water Like a slab of marble grey Brows and breats so silent -. fallen Rose. Oh the sad and sobbing water Of the agitated river • And the weeping West Wind sought her E'en the whispering leaflets brought her "Fare-thee ·wen, oh spotless victim of the sea." , ~'~------' ------, , 79 HELEN TAITT Arabesque ----_.- It is very peaceful here With the white clouds drifting And the palm trees lifting Graceful arms to fan the air. How lovely is the green when seen With the blue between as the branches lean. How lovely is the rose that grows By the stream which flows where the soft wind blows • It is very peaceful here With the tall grass shaking And the pond flies making Silver wing-play everywhere. You came, and all the sky was flushed, The day and my heart grew full as You came, The roses shed their dew and blushed, As the winds of a new awaking rushed Through their petals and breathed your name. I touched the stars, Reached to magic in a night • All beautiful ...... Caught new music and the world Was still ...... Known blue wonders Floating mauve and gentle silver. When I hear music ) When I see you sleep There is great beauty in both And a great longing in me for both I love music and I love you. There is music in you And you are there in music always. A street of men to swell the ever-swelling tide of blood . • Men in a crowd, wedged in and carried along With the dull red, dull war song. Blades in the afternoon . . . Silver thin blades Bobbing like hungry tongues overhead Of the not yet, not yet dead. Words on the wall . . . Blood in the rain Men go to murder men again • • ~----~-.~ 114 KYK-OVER-AL Cold khaki shoulder Comfor~less and hard. I am a young frail thing Hungry for the power of a warm arm, I must be hungry always - Waiting for the turning and in vain. \ A silent listener in this crowded room, A silent listener with a hungry soul Waiting now alone and full of pain, Fighting ",jith yOUI' memory again. In this room am I, and yet no ~ here, On the red red roadway must I be, Where the night is full of stars and cool And you are ther e t·o walk with me. Sealed in that wood in this cold stone bed sealed, The graveman moves the space is closing fast, 1 And now I die when now the last Windows of sight are covered fOOl" all time. A great deep emptiness stabs to my heart As if some vital part of life is gone For all eternity clesed in that tomb with thee. 80 WALTER MAC A. LAWRENCE Futility -- - ~-' . -- The flowers are dead on the grave and a sad sigh: lay; My token of love, y·ou had thought and your heart had bled As you laid them so tenderly there and behold in a day The flowers are dead. And as vain your love too long in the 'heart hid away. Then, some of it shown in a smile or kind word said Much more would have meant than tributes you now would pay- The flowers are dead. • ------.. - .._------.._ _.__ ._ -_. ---'-' - ---- 81 WALTER MAC. A. LAWRENCE From Meditation, Thoughts in the Silence ----- Wrapped in close communion on the psychic borderland, Dead to life, this little life like tracings in the sand E'en a spent, receding wave, a child's reluctant hand Passing o'er once may sweep away. Life I know is worthy of the best that we can give, } Life I know persisteth, and we only die to live, Life I know is trending slowly, surely, fugitive, Seaward from the foaming fringe of Time. Bulwark's to Decay's relentless, cold encroaching sand, S:retching down the ages, I can see them, great and grand: Beating back the darkn'ess with a light it cannot stand ~ J Holding up the Heavens lest they fall! T Gladness, born of such consoling thoughts, within me springs: Through the burdened Soul, like soothing music, how it sings: Louder than the deep, sad chords Ambition strikes, it rings: Man is master still, not Circumstance! Not the blind or foetal movings in the womb of night, Or the feeble struggles on and upward to the light, But the march !riumphant of the Ages in their might, To a poor perfection that I see. First beside that sacred river where my kindred sprang, And the tread of dusky millions pushing sunward, rang, Long before the naked Caledonian learnt and sang Legends of his heroes, it commenced. ) North and East and West it thundered age on glorious age: Now the hand of Chaldea wrEes its bright, illustrious page; Now the Mede is making History, daring Time to wag'e With his pride its immemorial war. Now the Earth reflects the glory of Iranian sway; Now Athenian splendour lights a new and better day; Now it seems the sun m ust pale its lustre pass away Where ~he fretting Tiber ebbs and flows. Long before the tumult round the turbid Thames had rolled, Egypt was a scrap-heap Babylon was waxing old; Iran, Greece and Rome soon followed Time piled on its mould Making mounds of man's perfected dreams. r Age on age retells the story lords of yesterday ,. Bow the necks today, then subject peoples hold the sway Each fresh ruling race still dreams of leading in its day Upward ~o perfection all the world. - --._------_.. _ ..- --_. ------l , 82 ROY HEATH The Peasants , The people plough the land but do not OWl> it Their children see the land but do not inherit it, Labour beneath the ruthless sun broiling and burning through the skin bears no fruit , but yet it is better to die on rich brown soil than in the street. These noble 'peasants who know the pure and simple life suffer from this rare knowledge. and forever kissing the hem of destitution they live with green fields of rice and pasture sown with the rich dung of contented beasts. 1 Like a ~ ree so arched by the wind that its crown would kiss the grass so seem the figures of reapers that gently rob the silent 'earth Fortitude in a shattered shirt when the sun retires and dusk draws her blanket over the land They skirt ~ he dams, these pillars of dignity to homes of peace and hope and after the rains a breath of wing brings a pungent scent of steaming earth and trees give up their fruit and the harvest is garnered. 83 EDGAR MITTELHOLZER The Virgin ----- , I sat one afternoon and watched A virgin pass, A virgin, poor lass, Withering slowly on her Dead Sea shore, Where the tide of years had lapped before - And left her now to plod, Alone; alas- ' f , ------~--~' ~, -,-, ------. ----~. --- .. , ... - -,~---- • , "" 84 WILSON HARRIS These are the Words of an Old Man (poem from play) These are the words of an old man -{ To his children and his people. Stand up slow ly To your full height o man going home And reflect that you are hom~less. For you go home to dwell in want And insufficiency. You go home to continue a grotesque pantomime, Reflect ...... there is more dignity J In being homeless tonight. Stand up slowly And think how tall yQU are. Think how your hands are capable To build a temple. Think how you are wise and gentle. 1 o man going home from the fields , With the memory of the burning sun In your mind, Think how dumb you are: Think what a travesty of civilisation •• You uphold Without a thought 'Of revolution To nourish your inarticulate heart. Think 0 man ) Going home It is better to be homeless tonight. 85 IVAN G. VAN SERTIMA ) Will Man of iron will poss'essed From the rleepest rut can rise From the hill's foot to its crest From the abyss w the skies. Will's the architect of Fate Nought can check determined man; Will can make a beggar great, Place him with the honoured clan. '. Will is like the mighty sea, Batt'ring at the stubborn dykes. } ' Halted briefly may it be; Then it wanders where it likes . • 11S KYK.-OVER-Al.. • On the dauntless wings of Will Man can soar to heights of Fame Richest walls of Glory drill, On Time's tablet carve his name. Will is like a shooting star Blazing through the blackened sky. Nothing can its progress bar. Shadow3 'fore its brilliance fly. Will can conquer any foe, Bend and snap the stoutest bars, Make success from effort flow, Station man among the stars. 86 IVAN G. VAN SERTIMA The Hidden Ocean -_._-" Soul is like a hidden ocean Flowing 'neath the grosser being, Brain reflects the complex motion On this subterranean stream. Thoughts and images are passkeys, Bringing us a fleeting peep Of the web of intricacies Fashioned on the fretted deep. Feeling is a living mirror Held against the fickle foam, On the ferment lays the pillar Of its photographic home. Melancholy and elat)on, Turmoil and tranquillity Build their transient foundation On the humours of this sea. Soul is like a hidden ocean Deep, and strange, and fathomless, Subtle source of all emotion, God of pain and happiness. Soul is link and tributary Of a vast and endless main, Medium, vassal, emissary O~ a universal brain. Soul is like a hidden ocean Pulsing 'neath the human sod. Acting like a magic potion, Making man a branch of God. , 87 IVAN G. VAN SERTIMA Life's Mountain ----- A climber brave with dogged step < Up, up a jagged mountain crept, His foot on treach'rous boulders slipped But as he hurtled down he gripped A rock which broke his fall. A footing safe he gained once more, Pushed on as bravely as before, Slipped, fell again, but still rose up And struggled upwards to the top, Undaunted, 'spite of all. If like that doughty mountaineer You scale life's mountain without fear, { If when with obstacles you meet And all your efforts spell defeat You still keep climbing up, If when on unsafe ground you slip • The Rock of Hope you firmly grip And rise up once again still bent On winning heights magnificent, You'll gain ';he mountain-top. ) 88 IVAN G. VAN SERTIMA • - The Tide of Time The waves roll on across the shores of time, • I And every foaming step's a moment spent. I We cannot build a dyke to curb their .climl), I They tumble on, unhindered in their bent. There is no haloing point, no rude retreat, Nor fears nor pleadings can resist the surge, The past is coffined sand grain at their feet And answers to no resurrecting urge. The waves roll on, relentless in their crawl, And soon beneath their shadow we must sleep; ., Let's build our castles 'ere the breakers fall. A fool's remorse cannot roll back the deep. 89 ARTHUR GOLDWIN SMITH Poem My faith is stronger than circumstance, There's no condition to bind. I use my patience and work my hand, Behind it all is my mind. My faith is stronger than four score men, My hopes are bright as the sun. • I labour away at the task each day, And 'each job I have well done. 1 90 E. H. REIS Poem Gladness and sorrow, laughter and tears, The thrill of triumph, the haunting of fears; The bliss of love, the anguish of pain, The sadness of loss and the joy of gain. The greed of the miser, the prayers of the saint, The power of reason to foster restraint; Or sudden disaster, so often the test Of man at his worst or maybe his best. As clay moulded in the potter's hand, So seldom do mortals understand The ,good that surrounds them, the love and the hate, The purpose of life, or the workings of fate. Conflicting emotions struggling to rule Teach well the lesson that life is a school; That effort and discipline nothing can stop From achieving victory; from reaching the top. , , 91 RICARDO SIMONE • .,. The City of Sin • • Somewhere amid a vast and arid land, < Stretches an endless line of fleshless bone; Where the heat shimmers on the yellow sand, And the wind re-echoes with a wailing moan, A tattered city stands. Every where once painted walls gape sadly, At the cracked and sunken path, And thin and spiry towers cluster madly, Seeking refuge from an Avenger's wrath . . J Sacked by immortal hands . .. , No longer does the sun-gad's temple be, Where crime once hung upon its Samite wails, No longer is there worship, a false heraldry, 1 Within its glittering and jewelled halls. Grim in death-grey garlands. f And there upon the crumbling altar pyre, Where trembling pagan victims bound were led, And there their sinful bodies ate by fire, Written in Blood City of Sin it read. 92 GEORGE HARRIS. I Sat in the Land of Poets , I sat in the land of poets Somewhere beyond the skies And beheld the r oses blooming In splendour with the wise. And lcok ed in the realm of wonders And saw great mysteries- Somehow with the mystics speaking And fell upon m y knees. I I roamed in the fields of beauty Somewhere w ithin the sphere Of knowledge with greatness breathing In fulness on my ear, And turned to the heights of rapture Oft times of which I heard And felt for a while the breathing Wrought by the Muse's word .... '------.. - . ------~. ------93 LAURA TING-A-KEE Strange? \ Strange- That it takes but the scent of the sage The sight of the traveller's palm To arouse nostalgia, to make me rage Against my fa ~ e in this alien cage . Strange- That the sight of blue waters could pall When once they were so inviting, That the heart could so impatiently call For the nutbrown lake and amber canal Strange- That grand skyscrapers could weary the eye Once surfeited with the sameness Of houses on stilts, and 'che 'endless lie Of macadam roads 'neath a rain-wash'd sky . Strange- No, not strange, not strange !l ~ all, that the heart Should clamour for the sounds and sights Of its native shore, for the gleaming dart Of the sea-wall on moonlight nights, For the unspoil'd laughter of wee children .... Romping hilariously on the strand, For "the monotonous chant of dark-skinn'd m en Cutting the rice-fields of their land. For the spindly grace of coconut palms And the gleam of Suddie-white sands And the flower fragrant zephyr that calms The hungry heart's demands. 94 LAURA TING-A-KEE Maybe It may be That when all my youth has passed Into the farflung years of time, I will laugh T'o think that once I dreamed of creating a braver world, Of changing these sightless tenements and all this , Sordidness. • Of bettering this hand-to-mouth existence And imparting a little colour to so much Colourness. It may be ------___~ . ~o ______------.. - ' -· -~o - --- - ._--- ,,' KYK-OVER-AL 123 • , ~ That when enthusiasm has passed Into the grave of what might have been, I will laugh To think that such a nonentity as I • Had evolved gigantic plans fOr humanity ...... But not now, Not yet in this flesh of youth when each new dawn Tiptoes in aquiver with expectancy, Brimming with hope. 95 LAURIE DE JONGE • "Meditation" • • .. Quietly in some secluded spot, My soul and I, Beside the babbling brook, and fragrant sweet forget-me-no!, We both shall lie There where Nature holds deep converse, And the breeze Make magical music to the lis'ning trees. He'll lead us on to pastures evergreen, My soul and I. 96 LAURIE DE JONGE "Man Kno'W- Thyself" The Will, the Mind and the Soul - These three are the core of our being, Our Body's the frame, know thyself man Beware What you sow, lest you reap retrogression. WILL The Will is the power in man '..' . That commands all our forces to action To accomplish great deeds, though impossible seems, Man is master or slave of Volition. .. MIND The Mind is subject to the Will Hard-working, sincere and t rue Like a transmitting se'.: . receives, and rejects Think high as you journey life through. SOUL The Soul is the Spirit Supreme, The life from the creative spark, Of essence Immortal, Almighty, Eternal God's presence in heaven, on earth. , 97 LAURIE DE JONGE I Affirm God's Presence is Here • God's presence is here, I look into my inner consciousness, I see Him with my spiritual eye, God's presence is here. God's presence is here, I throw off this mortal frame, , I feel Him with my Chris ~ -lik~ self', God's presence is here. God's presence is here, .. I'm inum'd, transfigur'd reborn Lack,evil, ill-health, disappear; God's presence is here, , 98 DONALD A. B. TROTMAN (Jnr.) "Music in the Dark" Dark; dark the very stars are dark. • My lone companion in the dark is Night. I whistle trying to put to flight My fears but then in vain; when hark! My heart is suddenly alight With music playing in the dark , Som~where beneath the night. A lone piano playing in the dark - • Long ling'ring notes encircling all the gloom; N ever before, I dare assum'e, Did music ever make such mark , On any poe~, with such tune As this this mmic .in the dark • Without a star, a moon. No more whistling trying to quell fear , ' , A few staccato notes turn dark to light • Then gay crescendo then a flight Of rapid octaves in the air , , Where is my lone companion Night? 1 Ah! I am left alone to hear j This music in the dark. " , • ------.•-,------.-~ ------. - ~~ , - " 99 MARTIN CARTER For My Son , The street is in darkness > Children are sleeping Mankind is dreaming It is midnight, -, It is midnight The sun is away Stars peep at cradles Far seems the day. Who will awaken One little flower Sleeping and growing Hour and hour? Light will awaken All the young flowerfi Sleeping and growing • Hour and hour . Dew is awake , Morning is soon Mankind is risen Flowers will bloom . • ( 100 WALTER MAC. A. LAWRENCE Anticipatory? Not if I knew it! I would not budge, I would not lift a hand Or suffer that my lips One whispered word should breathe Repining or in protes ~ Or lamenting o"er my lot, , If one by one The ones I loved and valued Much more, perhaps, than life itself - The ones I thought most sacred held Human reciprocity, Forsook me and forgot. - 101 PAT. A · LAWRENCE . • Oriens Ex Occidente Lux To alumni and faculty U.C.W.I. reverently dedicated. Ligh ~ , in the West arise, And paint the sombre shadows of earth's night. Shine in the Dawn of Truth, To sense-soaked masses , • shed immortal youth! From East, in W'est shine on, From sense to Spirit lead mankind to dawn. 1(12 J. ALWYN RODWAY I Telephone Ring your insistent summonses to men. Stare with black mouth and white eyes from ~he wall Gather live words in your brown box and then Transmute them into waves electrical • You have heard all, heard all, the light, the seriolls Shop lists and invitations to the dance Lovers' sweet no ~ hin gs, parents' words imperious Quarrels, brief triumphs over circumstance; Have heard death-messages from tear washed faces • Have reproduced them all; each sigh, each snigger Annihilator of slow time and spaces Each voice's modulations warmth or vigour Yours neither s'ense nor soul, mere stuff and yet • This much your masters lack you can forget. 103 JAMES W. HARPER-SMITH • Parchment and uill On parchment wrote the bards of old Their songs of joy and tales of woe. The words in which their stories told, • They carved with quill, and loved it so. And we who write with fountain pen, Can hear ~ oday the music still Of their glad songs, e'en though they wrote Their words on parchment with a quill! ------. - ---~, ------104 L. C. DAVIS • Satan's Serenade .. When the soul of a man is soaring higher My minions who love me hover apace, > And with sin-sweet sounds that snare the sole flier Draw near and watch the fear on his face, Draw near to bind him to bourn of his birth, - > To the home of his travail, his mother earth, Though soft winds blow and Heaven seems nigher The one who would 'scape my rule in this place. Loveliest of mortals, - Eanh's Eve, - came smiling, • I took her and taught her the way to hell, Spoke strange words of wonder her heart beguiling With secret of s>orrow ye know so well. I thought I could hold her ever in shade, In shade of the Beauty men saw dismayed When the wise ones wept as my wilful wiling Sowed visions of sadness man's songs would tell. > 105 C. W. HAMILTON Symbols The moon's loaned gold's inwrought with sapphire light , And woven with the fl eece of seraphs' skirts; The crystal necklace of the vigil night Hewn bright upon an angel anvil flirts •• With cloth of blue. The blood of Christ is shown In bars of sterile flame where sank awhile To rest the gory day-star, which has known , Ear ~ h's centuries of weeping woe and shame For Crucifixion's deed. But yonder floats A wisp of sacerdotal white flecked with Strong threads of frowning green This green's crod's ire At the black curse of homicidal sin, The white's, the Chastning purge of Pentecostal fire! 106 WILSON HARRIS The Chorus • • canto But first Elpenor came, our friend Elpenor. Unburied, cast on the wide earth, , Limbs that we le·It in the hOtLse of Ci7'Oe, Unwe)Jt, unwmpped in sepulcher, since· toils urged other. Pitiful spirit. And I cried in hUT7'ied speech: • " Elpenor, how art thou come to this da7'k coast? Cam.'st thou afoot, outstripping seamen?" EZRA POUN D -- The long lost seas inundate his negatIVe body, the spiritual explorer by many shores of memory: the brigh: waves are light . like feathers upon his wide eyes. Darkness falls in strange alarums like bells off. San Salvador (music he heard in imagination reached Columbus, was like a chor us of the dead reiterating old crimes for new discovery) .. And sunset or sunrise was discoV'ered equally guarding the mountain of his heart He passes, lives or diE'S , • :8 indifferently beautiful or ugly, wise or ignorant, l'oved or unloved. is borne strangely like eternal weed scattering planets. For wha ~ journey or journeys has he taken this form or derision withou: realising his real substance accompanied by furies and choruses of anguish Sunlight scatters nowhere in particular the surfaces of his exposed splendour , pricked by cramps and pains by needles of despair. And his garments are woven of ·darkness. He wears light .... only at noon but is formless like ulterior shadow (this is the dark architecture of his closed eyes at nOOn the :ragic toil of the interior weary spirit l looking inward alone) Still the bright golden sea of light washes the blind kingdom impossible and possible shadows, population on reefs of delight: the murmur of the stars press .. like living desires. How to \iuspend death like life in a moment or bubble of time, in a human temple, in a universe of sound or crystal foam , in a moment tha: changes into eternity! How to dream in a constant shape of life • KYK-OVER-Ai. 129 that passes the doors of longing inro a kingship of freedom, , into a world that is near, nearer than a heartbeat, mysterious like a dark form of tumult, a darker republic fathomless, with ~he passage of a strange deep suffering body, defiant of doom, pressing the salt lips of peril to incessant delight! 107 JAN CAREW The Cities • • I have been to the cities, The 'old cities, Rome, Paris, Vienna, • London, Brussells, Amsterdam, And indestructible, fragile man I have seen Living the flash bulb filament span Of life Amidst convex and vertical stones And old monuments ...... The old cities, Where age is worshipped And age is the worshipper ...... • The age bound cities, The fog found cities, The stone bound cities, The twilight bound cities, Where age is worshipped And age is the worshipper. I And acPOss the Atlantic seas I have been to the new ci ~ies . Epilogues of the old, > The light bound cities, The steel bound cities, The sky bound cities, The stone bound cities, Where mirrored spectre of the past • Is vista of the future, And the brooding of the old cities • Appeared again, The mirrored spectre of age was there again. I have gone in my searching To the cities, .~ The old cities, Warsaw, Prague, Athens, Lisbon, And to the new cities Across the Atlantic seas, Washington, New York, ISO KYK-OVER-AL Chicago, Los Angeles .... Radar-pronged antenae of my searching Groped 'everywhere .... The old cities ., , . The new cities .... • But the faces were the same, In snow, bleak rain, Fog and miraculous sunshine, I have searched I have searched I have searched, But the face of ~ he cities, • The old cities, And the new cities Across the Atlantic seas Were the same, 108 HENRY W. JOSIAH Hindsight of England .. There comes a knowing then , That it is winter when The naked trees are clawing at ~ heempty sky Like phantom fingers froz'en stretching high Up to hold a nothingness, This knowing comes again With each new morning when White piles of snow can find mirror ( In sky that has no answer for The hungry cry of blackened limbs. And this awareness weaves Torturing bands about the mind and leaves Strangely contorted memories Of flowers grinning through the green of trees In to'O long-left homier lands. Only the friendly touch Of paler hands brings much Relief from knowing through the cold forgetfullness , Apd feeling of a foreignness That essences the winter. ------_ ._------,------109 MORTIMER A. COS SOU Come Raise Your Voices Children of Guiana, come raise your voices, Hail ye with joy Ollr Queen today. One with the Empire in love and in loyalty Gladly our homage now we pay. From every part of our Sovereign's Dominions, And wheresoe'er our Flag is seen, We sing with heart and soul this chorus: God bless the Empire God Save the Queen. God save the Queen, may her kingdom ne'er perish, I Wisdom and strength on her bestow Grant her to reign with vision and courage. Mayall the world her greatness know. Give her we ask of Thee graces all glorious, Love, Joy and Peace be hers for aye, Crown her with blessing, glory and honour, Hear Thou the Nation's prayer today. , 110 EGBERT MARTIN (LEO) National Anthem And, like a bird at rest , In her own ample nest, Let Britain close Far-reaching wings and strong O'er her colonial throng, Guard, keep and shield them long From all their foes. , While o'er the Empire's bound The Sun shall skirt his round, Shining serene On one broad amity Holding from sea to sea Free rule and subjects free: God save the Queen. INDEX O'F FIRST LINES A Climber brave with dogged step (van Sertima) .. • • · , 87 A maiden loved me once (Glen) . . . . • • • • 16 And falling in splendour sheer down from the h eight (W. Lawrence) 25 . And, like a bird at rest (Leo) ...... · . .. 110 As I strode upon the shore one day (Simone) .. • • • • 48 A t sunset when the sunbeams die (Harper) .. , . • • 53 Beauty about us in the breathe of names (Seymour) • • • • 7 Born in t.~e land of the mighty Roraima (Bryant) • • • • 8 Chalice-shaped alluring lips (Ramcharitar-Lalla) • • , . 70 Children of Guiana, come raise your voices (Cossou) , , .. 109 • :C'ark; dark the very stars are dark (Trotman, Jnr.) • • • • 98 Dark the charcoal river flowed ceaselessly (Carew) , , • • 22 Day of delight, canst thou come now (Davis) .. , . • • 39 Dear lonely, little star untouched by age (Trotman) , . , . 55 r;·ear Solitude (Chinapen)...... • • • • 18 L'rip drip drip (Lalla) ...... • • • • 31 Fleeting clouds race across a pink clad sky (Steele) . . .. 54 }< 'rom out the Eastern sky are shot (Ruhoman) ...... 35 , Gigantic altar table of our God (Clementi) ...... 19 Gladness and sorrow, laughter and tears (Reis) ...... 90 God's presence is here (de J onge) ...... 97 Go song and greet her, my lady (Grimes) ...... 62 Hail si l ve r -throa ~ed, yellow breast (Ruhoman) ...... 47 Her eyes are diamond orbs which speak in any tongue (HamIlton) .. 77 H e shall touch God who reaches out and weeps (Taitt) .. . . 75 Hey Ho, the East Wind blows (Glen) ...... 50 < I brought these flowers that you with sweet kind smiles (Davis) .. 72 I came and they drunkened me lightly (Mittelholzer) . . .. 30 I came to live within the Sudden South (Piers) ...... 28 I can no longer hide the truth (Leo) ...... 64 I dance upon the brink of day (Harper-Smith) ...... 52 I have been to the cities (Carew)...... 107 I know the girls are comoing (Lalla) ...... 29 In a skirt of gentle breezes (de Weever) ...... 59 In m e I am troubled (Mittelholzer) ...... 76 In the night, whispering tender words (Melville) ...... 74 < I sat in the land of poets (G. Harris) ...... 92 I sat one afternoon and watched (Mittelholzer) ...... 83 I saw my darling standing (Leo) ...... 63 I saw them there beneath the palms at dawn (Trotman) . . .. 13 I saw you once a bit of throbbing life (Dalzell) ...... 46 I see you resting on a still dark pool (Piers) ...... J 0 It is strange (W . Harris) ,...... 42 It is very peaceful h ere (Taitt) ...... 79 , It may be (Ting-a-Kee) ...... 94 I told my heart to be careful {Reis) ...... 61 I waited for the dawn, the lazy dawn (Clarke) ...... 34 I wish the old sea wall could voice (Piers) ...... 9 ., Lands open (W. Harris) ...... 20 Legend that stelling bore was hard as greenheart core (Carew) .. 21 • Light, in the West arise (P. Lawrence) ...... 101 Man of iron will possessed (van Sertima) ...... 85 Mine was not a bitter rebellious mind (Davis) ...... 71 My faith is stronger than circumstance (Smith) ...... 89 ----~ ~ - .- ..- - - .- -"- ._ . ------.-- -~ ------0 0 0 0 Night kissed earth's lips (Mitchell) o 0 o 0 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not hands (Carter) o 0 o 0 3 0 0 0 0 o 0 Not if I knew it! (Wo Lawrence) • 0 100 ~ Not slender grace here moves our lips (Cameron) o 0 o 0 43 New Makonaima, the Great Spirit dwelt (Seymour) o 0 o 0 27 beautiful Guiana (Wo Lawrence) 0 0 0 0 o 0 o • 0 1 ~ 0 deep pink Rose, how gay you are (Piers) 0 0 o 0 o 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 Once I loved a woman (Glen) o 0 o 0 78 On parchment wrote the bards of old (Harper-Smith) o 0 o 0 103 Fraise to the gods who moulded from (Harper.Smith) o 0 58 • 0 • Quietly in some secluded spot (de Jonge) 00 00 00 95 Ring your insistent summonses to men (Rodway) 0 0 0 0 102 Roses pale in meek surrender (Tulloch) 0 0 0 0 0 0 67 Savage moon (Melville) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 73 Send me a rose, dear, small and red and sweet (Trotman) 0 0 69 Slow, forest-girt Potaro, half asleep (Clementi) 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Somewhere amid a vast and arid land (Simone) 0 0 0 0 91 Soul is like a hidden ocean (van Sertima) ...... 86 Splendour of morning, splendour of even, splendour of night (Leo) 33 Star oJf Eve, wandermg companionless (White) ...... 57 , I Still was my heart as if the sweet of slumber (Trotman) 0 0 0 0 68 ;y Strange (Ting-a-Kee) 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 93 Sunshine and showers (Reis) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 38 That night when I left you on the bridge (Carter) 0 0 0 0 6 The flowers are dead on the grave and a sad sight lay (Wo Lawrence) 80 • This lac! was born (Dalzell) ...... 30 The long lost seas inundate his negative body, the spiritual explorer (Ha"ris) ...... 106 The moon's loaned gold's inwrought with sapphlre light (Hamil:on) 105 The people plough the land (Heath) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 82 The perils of the night tUl"n to roses (Brassington) 0 0 0 0 37 The rosy-tinted billows of the skies in glory roll (Wo Lawrence) o. 38 There comes a knowmg then (Josiah) ...... 108 0) There runs a dream of perished Dutch plantations (Seymour) 0 0 o. These are the words of an old man (Harris) 0 0 0 0 0 0 84 • The slaves groan; Freedom's domain they must share (Cameron) 00 4 The sinking sun proclaims the approach of night (Parris) 0 0 ]7 The Stars (Lalla) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56 The stars in galaxy I see (Tulloch) 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 ,36 The street is in darkness (Carter) 0 0 • • 0 0 • 0 99 The sun sets on Leguan (Richmond) . . 0 • • • 15 The tender wind's thin fingertips (Josiah) . 0 0 0 • 0 44 The twilight shuddered into gloom (Leo) 00 o. 00 51 , They led him through the forest wild (Welch) ...... 26 The waves roll on across the shores of time (van Sertima) 00 sa The Will, the Mind and the Soul (de Jonge) 00 00 00 96 This river mud.brown runs for winding miles (Dalzell) 00 12 Turbulent, pain-racked waves (Ting-a-Kee) 0 0 0 0 00 40 There are wedding-belled carnations (Seymour) . . 0 • • • 41 We have a sea on this shore (Carter) 00 • 0 00 o 0 5 When new moon's pallor blushes in the sky (de weever) o 0 65 0 When the soul of a man is soaring higher (Davis) 0 0 o 104 Who would not follow thee, swallow, in flight (Leo) 00 o 0 49 0 Wonder of the tropics (Po Lawrence) 00 .0 0 • o 24 Wrapped in close communion on the psychic borderland o 0 o 0 (W 0 Lawrence) 0 • 0 0 0 0 • 0 81 Yes, I have seen them perched on paling posts (Seymour) o 0 45 Your little tongues once whispered in the breeze (Harper-Smith) 00 14 KYK-oVER-AL , ( . , •- .- Your best source of supply • ,• • - FOR - I DHUGS COSMETICS ~ • PATENT MEDICINES CONFECTI ONE RY r , , , ~tore , , • WHOLESALE i111l1 RETAIL 15 & 16 Croal Street -.-• Phone C. 90 & 9] s EDS • tts eer u • .. • • Mark. TraJe ()ver , • Diana atc acto , LIMITED. , Vreed-en-Hoop, W.B., Demerara ------~. ------_._------KYIt-oVER-At. > ( • .- FOR ALL OCCASIONS 'fhe Hesult of Expert \Vorkml1nship is always > appreciated by the Discriminating 'Volllan. , The Excellent Assort1nent 0 • • including , "Vill be readily appro\"ed by both visitors and residents of the colony as GIFTS of outstanding quality and high yalue. vVhat makes our offer most remarkable is our ' ) LOW PRICES . • ---. . fl' 1 e ortu uese utua awn- • , om any, > OF BRITISH GUIANA, LIMITED. 16, Robb & Hincks Streets I Phone Central 329. Established over 62 years. KYK-OVE.tt-AL • , , 5 _. -- , < I I I I, "'------• "Nothing is denied to well directed labour" Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS .. L et us therefore attribute the friendly patron • age which we enjoy to the results of our labour directed to the service of our customerR. I In every line of our business we have extenJed our efforts to acquiring top quality goods that . can be sold at the most reasonable prices. As we have been doing through the years, we .. offer YO U today, a service directed to the I making and keeping of friendly customers. • As you know we deal in Provisicns of all kinds LiqnoI's, Hardware including Mining Equip ment, Agricultural Machinery and Implements, Ironmongery, Glass, Earthen, Brass and • Enamel Ware, Cutlery, Stationery, etc., I etc. I • • For top-quality goods at the most reasonable I prices your search ends at I • • , , i • 0., .l..Jt • 54(55 WATER STREET I I I . , ,I I • , I I • I I 1{YK-OVER-AL , choicest products , .. ffach you through , Nuffi cld Products • B.S.A. Motor Cycles and Cycles Goodyear Tyres International Harvester Agricultural Equipment G.E,C. Refrigerators and Electrical Appliances Lucas Batteries and other Accessories Frigidaire Hefrigerators PllJIips Hadios and Electrical Equipment British Paints ) Gestetller Duplicators ~ British Oil Engines Tilley Kerosene Lamps and Domestic Irons j:- Electrolux Refrigerators and Cleaners Hercules Cycles Slazenger Sports Equipment Kodak Photographic Equipment , • PHONE C. 1 1 5 1 . KYK-OVER-AL \ < I • I • • I !I • I ,I • • I ' • AND COMPANY. LIMITED. WATER STREET. • ------~. ~. ~. -_. ... _--_ ._ _. _. ----~. - - --- KYK-OVER-AL • I I > ar er & Co., Ltd. MANUFACTLRERS REPRESENTATIVE. Established 1 790. -. • EXPORTERS OF RUGAR & RUM GENERAL Il\lPORTERS AIRLlr E AGENrrS STEAMSHI P AGENTS . • 558, 559, Tel. Nos. Water Street. 560 & 107. - Georgetown. , ------_ ._ - -- e aim to please with -- • ) fLnd achieve this object by the skilful blending of specially , selected tobaccos, in order to give that satisfaction that is expect ed and obtained from these fin e cigR.rettes. MAN UFACTURED BY , emerara o acco 0., • - - ' - -- KYK-OVER-AL F01' PleaSlLl'e, FOT COIn ort, • For Long • THE OBVIOUS CHOICE IS .. • • • BRITA IN'S FINEST CYCLE • CASH OR TERMS FROM • , • • . ~ Water & Bentinck Strep t8, Georgetown. ------~. ~,~------. --~ -~-- - • KYK-·OVER-AL I~ i) I -- . - --_. - • 1 , .. 1 I .. _ - - - .- - - .. - - - _. _ - -_ .. • EssO I I . • ) .. .. ' ~ . • • -----~.------ • l - I K YK-OVER-AL r -.- - - _.. ---_ .. - .------,:-"""- ""'-= -",.,,--""".=,=- -,,,,,.'""- """-,..,..",. ~- I • ,I I INVEST IN- I , I I The New Vauxhall With the new Square Engines ' ...:: .. : ....: ..: ...... :: .. ::. t:.;:::.:.: .:. :.: ':::::1':';':';~:~::.:.:. ;', • ,...... " ...... ~w"::...... ""' , .. ::: 1 '" :::.::: ...... ::::: :.... I...... ::..... '...... :: ...... ••...... , .:::...... : .....::: ,-" ...... ' ...... : ::::.:.:.:.:.. : ..:.:.: ..: ..:.: ...... :.:.:.:. ::::~.:-:.:::.:.:.:.. :.;.:.:.:. ::.:.:.:.:.. All EYES ON THE •...... • • • :::... • • • • •••.:::: • .... • •::••• .. ?'::,':::.: ...... ;.;.::. +. w: .. ..•.•: ...... ::. :.. .:::. ...•...... ,' :: .....'. •••:: •::. ".:':'::. •• . • •. •• .o:.o '.o•..•••.. ':':.o:::.; • < ,.:. ;.;'.:.:.:.: • .o ..... :. :.:.:.:.:'.: .:.:.;.;.;:...... : ...... ::::-.;.;.;.;.:-..•. :-:-.o: ...... : ; ...... :: .. :: . ... - • I ! I •, .. , • • - • • I Acclaimed as the greatest success In years , I • • No wonder trade and public alike 6-CYL. VELOX are applauding the new Vauxhalls 2t lifT ..; 75 m.p.", For really 1 , h.gh performance wi,h surprising I 1 wherever they are displayed! Here, economy. (25 m.p.g. with normal I driving,) I without overclaiming, is engineering technique years ahead of its time! Study these outstanding cars as a 4-CYL. Same size, same modern styling as whole,' or in every detail of their Velox; It litre engine, and out standing economy. (Well DfJer specification, and you will agree. We 30 m.p.g. with no,.,mu II, ;,,;nl.) shall be proud to show them to you. ====. , HIGH STREET - GEORGETOWN, - ' -' , - - I{YK-OVER-AL 1+ . It ca,n be Misery or it can be I {> FUN! If you choose to travel to Britain by Cunarder from ew York or Canada, you will enjoy:- j • The Finest Food in the World. • On the Finest Ships in the World. • Which are the Largest and Fastest Ships in the World. • Giving H Service Second to None. . ~ THE COST? Very comfortable accommodation can be booked for as little as - $273.60 (B.G.) from New York $256.80 (B.G.) from Canada - • Call in and discuss your trip with _ . -- • 0., -TD. Agents: CLINARD STEAMSHIP CO., LTD. oose .' I > I I For Reliability and Easy Running. • FERN ES, Ltd., • • - • • , • AGENTS • Cen.660. Lombard St. - - - - K YK-OVER-AL • II , ( It.y tlte --- , I' I i , \ • • ~ I ,I BEHIND THE •I I, I • " 1 I 1 I • I I: I ;>- I• I I• 1 I ,I • • , • ~ - I• ,• I THAT KEEPS ) - • • ., i i • • ~ In t e ore ront 0 Inters. , ~ I ~ I ED~ , - Tel. 267 • • • Bel Air Park, Vlissengen Road. • • , • , • , • • •• • , - • ------_.-_._--_. · Acceptable and enjoyable on all occasions ... , PLAYER'S --I .. , . . . are neither too mild nor too strong, but are just .. right for the smoker who enjoys and appreciates High , Grade Virginia fJ.'obacco. , ~lallufactured by . emerara o aceo 0., __ .. _ _ =.. .-."'...... -_ .... _.. _____ ~_w_~_ """"' _,.._ ~ _ .. _.____ .._.. _. __ -...... -= • I • , • DALLAS V. KIDMAN &. Co., ACENTS.---Phcne C. 697. ~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO¢0060¢OOOOOOOO~ <> - ~ <> . ' v • <> <> <> <> . , • d 7 - • ' . <> • <> --- <> g o g • ~v n't e Wit t at • ersistent coo ••• <> <> <> There's danger in a persistent cough <> ... it .may become chronic . .. it may <> lead to something more serious, more <> . worrying. Take the safe, sure way to rid yourself of a cough that hangs • <> GO on take Ferrol Compound, the tonic <> cough remedy. The very fact that a cough hangs on is an indication that your natural resistance is low and that nature needs help. As long as your resistance is poor you will never get rid of your cough. Ferrol Compound starts off by raising your resistance and in a very short time you are completely rid of that stubborn cough. ". • • THE TONIC COUGH REMEDY in the Blue Wrapper. on Sale at all good Drug Stores A Product of BOOKERS MANUFACTURING DRUG CO., LTD. , A.C.L.-Printers. Carib Advertmnl Service. . , • •