POEMS: When I Returned

When I returned to the harbours of home
The sea was chained.
The wind spawned pennants of palms;
Forests were replete
With banners of rainbow-orchids and wild azeleas.
Lagoons were locked away
From the surfs spray,
By arms of land, scarred
With the ague of the sun’s flame
And the bite of cold nights of the Hamaartan.
The rigid sun
Was the eye of a hurricane
In eddies of a spinning sky.
Surf-BOATS froze on the crest of waves
And fishermen raised bold tridents,
Acclaiming the death of a new day
And the life that was lived in the old.
Women with breasts like a blush of clouds
Walked on beaches,
Singing calypsoes and dancing.
Before they drowned,
In shrouds of the moon’s shadow.
The salt in the wind lay scattered
Across green plains,
Burning the tongues of nightingales;
And the throats of parakeets were grey
With the pain of wanting
To greet the sunset in vain.
Rivers were still, anchored to mountains
Where secret springs first spoke
Of their awakening.
The land flowed in prodigal green waves,
Breakers, so set the mountains free;
To release the burning plains.
Cockatoos minced and sang,
Rafting on leaves of lotus lilies
The kind breeze, gentle as God,
Whispered,
“children of the dew cannot drown”.
So I returned
Wearing parrots for epaulettes,
And toucans for a crown.