LEONARD DABYDEEN

 

LEONARD DABYDEEN

 

Love

 

Where a lamppost spreads a white spot light

Nursing silent night with canny purr,

A racoon crosses there in sudden flight.

Where an old man walks his dog this hour

With a leash that’s buckled to his hand,

The dog stands briefly pat in belled collar.

Where a beggar sits while others stand,

Passersby don’t stop along their way,

No one cares about his open hand.

Life has parity that fills each day

That’s beyond the scope of a tomorrow;

How we see our world around at play

Makes it important: share love, not sorrow.

 

 

In The Colour Of My Skin

(Indentureship-1838-1917)

 

You mock me

at your dinner table

higher up the food chain

call me bad names

with your filthy mouth

ride your prancing horse

and whip me

like your slave boy

when colony sugar burning

because you brought me

to make flourish your plantation

then take my woman

as you please

with your whore-mongering angst

in her womb

while I tug and sweat

loading punts with sugar cane

but just you never forget

you cannot change

this colour of my skin

like I can change yours

it is my indentured heart you fear

that will rise in this diaspora

turning pages of history

creating new chapters

gathering storm

just you never forget

just you never forget !!!

 

 

We Are All At Fault

 

We are all at fault

you and I

and others too

in the canon of our trajectory

catapulting peace over perjury

harmony over angst

no one cooks rice

without sifting it

always some desirables

within complex webs

of our minds

where our karma revolts

or echoes involuntarily

in matrix of peace and sanctity

as we grapple with sinews

and seek bhakti

embellishing dharma

being this change, we wish

for you and me

immersing melodic stotras

within gems of Bhagavad Gita.

 

LEONARD DABYDEEN