TRENCH TOWN REMINISCE ©2005

South West of Kingston - Trench Town!
I love to reminisce
Thinking of the life once lived,
Now memories frozen in thought
Where, some warriors, the rough tough,
Rude Boys and Girls graves now lay –
The souls who could have lived, to -
Fulfill their destined role
Blinded by infantile darkness –
Fashioned without hope
They could see no further, than,
A poverty stricken dulled world

Memories linger still –
Carved deep and etched within
The innocent, through no fault, of theirs
Gunned down in their - prime
Or hungry starved children cried,
Groans from severe hunger pain
Much be the disdain from upper strata
In society – Suffrage within a lesser cast
Fertile were our peoples’ mind, having not
The wherewithal - comes to maturity
Counted that for something –
We’d plot a path in life,
Deep in our rustic, multi - cultural ways

I sometimes think, and then wonder,
How swiftly our years have passed
Having sat to ponder, under the gwangue trees
Or up high, between some ackee tree branch,
Where the cool breeze blow
Sheared the soft winds passed,
That whistled among the leaves
There, where the orange red, cluster –
Closed fruit swayed -
Became fit to open, then to pick

Like a hand full of carbon nuggets –
Gems, scattered throughout our turf
Polished beyond our darkened will
Through faith some Rudies have seen the light
Risen through slums suppression -
Spiritual attainment in sight
With consciousness gleaned, molded to substance
As diamond in the rough
Larger than Religion, bigger than life’s oppression
The is ness of all things, cause and effect –
Overcoming adversities - Principles Universal,
All class casts and creed have come to reap –
Gleaning of our virtues and culture - at will
Trench Town! Trench Town! Trench Town!
O how, I love to reminisce - your praise