Of my country with two names
Like a complicated diagnosis
Two unmatched feet
That march, knees high,
...
Wesley Gibbings was born in Trinidad in 1958. His first collection of poems was published in 1977. He is an award-winning journalist and press freedom advocate who has covered Caribbean public affairs for over 30 years and has written extensively on journalism and media in the West Indies.)
A Country With Two Names
Of my country with two names
Like a complicated diagnosis
Two unmatched feet
That march, knees high,
Unmarked by time
And never getting there
Through dark and light
Sun and rain
Names without people
Missing in action
Like the light that woke us
And fled before we said hello
In this dark and damp hollow
Of death and lifeless breath
Of promises and broken hearts
Of countries with two names
Of places without colours
Like mist without the dreaming
Like mountains without trees
Like waterless oceans
And coastless islands
Clouds without the sky
Eyes without the seeing
Countries with two names
People without nations
Sadness with no tears
Still and silent laughter
Death before our birth
Like sleepness nights
Without the days
To greet their end
He's probably the best poet I've ever seen, he makes his poems so rich and emotional that I can just feel the words in my soul sinking.