How I Wish To Sing You A Song Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

How I wish to sing you a song

to let you know my love for you

is greater than all the world;

How I wish to hold you tight

and embrace your coastland:

your rich mud-banks,

golden rice fields swaying in the wind,

sweet sugar-cane burning in the fields,

punts slowly drifting in the canals,

bauxite mining and gold diggers panning;

How I long to watch buck-crabs marching

and jumping shrimps in dragging seines

where the Atlantic greets the sandy shores;

How I wish to see little boys

riding donkeys on red clay-brick streets,

some playing marble games in their back-yards,

mothers crouched on their knees

spreading cow-dung beneath stilted houses;

How I wish to drink sweet coconut water

sitting by the black-sage bush

or under a canopy of towering coconut trees

swaying like giants reaching for the blue skies;

How I wish to call my country

my home

not wanting to be a refugee:

fleeing from the wrath

of demon-like men who want all

not even listening

if you’re begging for some.