1. A Letter from the Heart
Send me the swans from the shimmering waters,
Carrying the keys to sweet freedom’s delight;
Glistening feathers ruffled by tropical breezes,
Ending this enslavement that slid day in to night.
Bottle me the essence of fresh rose petals drifting
Silently, serenely, on waves of foaming green,
Haunting footsteps stumbling over sea-washed pebbles,
Echoes of children’s merriment; heard, but never seen.
Caress for me the body that is shredded and roughly bleeding
From shackles that chafe and infect my tender skin,
Iridescent whiteness now grimed to filthy squalor,
Reflecting the brutality of white-slavery I am in.
Show me the kisses that will heal the red-eyed circles,
Inflicted from the butts of countless Cuban cigars;
Lack lustre eyes rimmed with saddened black shadows,
Scooped innocent from the pavements of the Turkish Bazaars.
Hear for me the pleadings of close soul’s who are suffering,
Lying in soiled heaps amidst rank bedding in the dirt;
Dust-ridden screams that ride weak shafts of sunlight,
Pain beyond endurance, shameful scorn upon deep hurt.
Pay for me the ransom that they are complacently demanding,
Sourced from earth’s treasures, whether by right or by wrong;
Let me lie in verdant pastures to the sounds of clouds colliding,
Home to my Island Country; home where I belong.
© Angela Gloker