Caribbean Quarterly

A Journal of Caribbean Culture

ISSN: 0008-6495 (Print) 2470-6302 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcbq20

Poems

Ronnie Fagan & Ronald Fagan

To cite this article: Ronnie Fagan & Ronald Fagan (1981) Poems, Caribbean Quarterly, 27:1,
93-94, DOI: 10.1080/00086495.1981.11671985

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00086495.1981.11671985

Published online: 04 Feb 2016.

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 93

POEMS

CONFRONTATION

Hay!
What de man a defen'?
Wha de man a say?
De shirt you wearin' red,
Black cap de pon you head,
Yet you pants an' socks dem green-
I wan' know wha you a defen' seen?
The "I" defen rights-
"I" rights, human rights,
an' no fights.
The "I" a defen' love an' peace
you no see't?
How you a defen' "rights"?
You clothes dem wrong!
De top o' you a socialist
But you bottom half a labourite.
De only ting look neutral is yuh boot
I wan' know whe fe shoot!
You hear mi trial now!
A don' know wha fe do
Tings bad
A wearing what a have
If a strip dem wi day a mad.
A kian' walk in de middle road
Bus wi lick rni dung.
A kian' stan firm an a kian sit dung
Cause a have dis heavy load.
When a put it dung-is deliverance
But then a ha ve step-
(If) A step left - is a "ism"
Step right, an rni still wrong.
Tell you what, either shoot
or mek rni gwan
So much trouble!
From a bawn!

RONNIE FAGAN
94

AFTERMATH

Now they will sieze the guns and stop the fights
And maybe we can sleep at nights,·
But will there really be a healing?
Can we erase all ill feeling
And simply admit "we were mad"
And "now it's over we are glad"?

Can conscience ignore the many dead

Or the countless numbers who have bled?
Can the memory of those who felt and saw
Be smothered by "the course of the law"?
Was "Progress" worth the sacrifice?
Or "Deliverance" such high a price?

Just pointing fmgers and aiming blame

Will never for a moment ease our shame.
My brother died and so did yours
There are orphaned children at our doors
They are the future-let them grow
And rise, for we have sunk so low.

RONALD FAGAN