Return to Guanos - a poem (Patreon)

Return to Guanos - A Poem By Saint Andrew

Many moons I travelled, A dance with Kalinea Rock faces, ocean spaces, Seasons I can't see her Ancestors were not travellers Yet there I was, afar How many cycles passed? And here, I finally are It's been far too long, my dear The isle of Guanos The birds are so familiar now Their cousins shadowed like ghosts I felt like a lost soul, A jumbie in midnight dance The isle, it now enraptures me I welcome this great trance The coral reefs, they danced for me I saw the turtles jig I landed on the blackened beach And kissed the land, so big I heard the rumble of the creatures Holding the isle afloat They seemed to say, ey, welcome dey Macaws cawed in one note They pleased to have me back, I see So I called in return The echo of the caves They all seemed to affirm And my people? O my people Burst from marble homes Abandoned their canoes Rose from their tomes Like pine saplings, Little ones sprung onto me Some I hadn't seen Mango-faces seemed to gleam How long had it been? I really do not know I think that it was many moons, that I had I travelled though A dance with Kalinea, my dear I must depart I travelled many places But here is where I start