HERE AND HEREAFTER
poem for today - February 20, 2014
Continuing Black History Month
Continuing Black History Month
An Old Jamaican Woman
Thinks About the Hereafter
What would I do forever in a big place, who
have lived all my life in a small island?
The same parish holds the cottage I was born in, all
my family, and the cool churchyard.
my family, and the cool churchyard.
I
have looked
up at the stars from my front verandah and have been afraid
of their pathless distances. I have never flown
in the loud aircraft nor have I seen palaces,
so I would prefer not to be taken up high nor
rewarded with a large mansion.
I
would like
to remain half drowsing through an evening light
watching bamboo trees sway and ruffle
for a
valley-wind,
to remember old times but not to live them again;
occasionally to have a good meal with no milk
nor honey for I don’t like them, and now and then
to walk
by the grey sea-beach with two old dogs and watch
men bring up their boats from the water.
For
all this,
for my hope of heaven, I am willing to forgive my debtors
and to love my neighbour ...
although
the wretch throws
stones at my white rooster and makes too much noise
stones at my white rooster and makes too much noise
in her
damn backyard.
© A. L. Hendriks
A. L. Hendriks: ‘An
Old Jamaican Woman thinks about the Hereafter’ from On This Mountain and Other Poems (Deutsch). Reprinted by permission
of the author.
Picture found on line.
Picture found on line.
3 comments:
Which lines tells us how great is her love for the simple pleasure she now enjoys?
What contrast can you find in the poem
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