THE REVOLUTIONARY HERO
'Walter yuh dead, stay dead nuh'
And the dangerous late 70's and early 80's fly
And closed the masses eyes
There man live in buried truths
In the streets of the people where true revolution lies
Banditry and the neglected platform of interracial cohabitation optimized
Where the Rodneyite dies
Squandered fruits of misguided youth
Fools taught lies
Ignorance suffice and rise, still it rise, still it rise
Come revolution come
Come revolution come
I am revolution son
Rodney the champion
Rodney the Revolution
Speak Walter of how we underdeveloped ourselves
Speak emphatically of yourself
We want another revolution
O let the groundings of knowledge gain at your sacred shelves
Tell the story of revolution and of the possibilities in themselves
Where lingering essence of marvelous light dwells
To this inherent death we must find the solution
Reeking havoc at our soul, come dispel
A day of reckoning must compel an upward rise, let us rise, let us rise
Come revolution come
Come revolution come
I am revolution son
Rodney the champion
Rodney the Revolution

LIKE AMAZON RAIN I DANCE
(When.....yuh.....hear.....the.......drums.................)
Like amazon rain I dance
For the African drum becomes my soul
My tropical frame I now behold!
Jubilant and enchanted, revisiting time and times of old........
I dance the dance of an old African.
I dance the dance of an old African.
 
Like lightning in the rain I dance
For the Indian drum becomes my dream
And rose like a mystical streak, a vision unseen!
A vision of light, with ghungrus and sari................
I dance the dance of an old Indian.
I dance the dance of an old Indian.
 
Like clouds of fire I dance
For the cumfa drum speaks to me
Spiritual flames across the floor;  resurrected and free!
I dance the dance of cumfa.
I dance the dance of cumfa.
 
Like Amazon rain - lightening and clouds of fire I dance
For the masquerade drums awake my soul
My tropical spirit, like flickering lights  unfold!
I dance the dance of Guyana.
I dance the dance of Guyana.
When........yuh........hear......the.......drums...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REDONDA
Many times and times and dividing of times have past
battered, bruised and abused by snarling waves....
Time and time again you remained the encompass
But nature knew your destined state
You couldn't flout...
This was the task you were about
Your nights and days all spent the same
Your environs battered with slated waves...
Ten thousand times ten thousand
Yet a bulwark all along
On stormy nights
And hurricane waves...
A bulwark in the dark
At morn, you left me in a state of absolute wonderment
No mortal breath hath whisk you there to stand
But the Almighty's hand
From creation day
To this day of days
A target of the waves

I Adore
We journeyed on to Ebini
A night upon the Berbice river
I wondered why not to Kwakwani
Another place of splendor
But since I embark on Ebini's shore
Resplendent in its nature
More and more I adore
My blessed Guyana

Virgin Rose
The land that beauty composed
A monumental Virgin Rose
The Eldorado which graces the Caribbean sea
Dust ridden by gold, dust ridden by diamond from shore to shore
Where McKenzie sits on bauxite land and Georgetown under the sea
Demerara, Berbice, Oh! Essequibo, thee we adore
Sweet Guyana,The Virgin Rose
Guyana! Virgin Rose
Sweet, sweet Guyana, The Virgin Rose
The stormy reaches of Kaieteur Falls I stand
Then My skeletal bend, and washes my hand on Niagara Falls land
My rivers, streams and rushing lakes
Oooh! Sixty-three Beach excursion fun
There sugar-cane graces the land, for God's sakes!
And the magical three hundred and sixty-five islands under the sun
Sweet Guyana, The Virgin Rose
Guyana! Virgin Rose
Sweet, sweet Guyana, The Virgin Rose

A Dedication
The great water falls of the Potaro
leaping
rolling
like a tidal wave moving
she rides the pebbles of fate
transcending the vision it makes
then to awake
in the sky like a sparrow
to sit at the throne of the sky
as she flies
as she flies
as she flies

Prelude : The nation of Guyana seems to have pause, (as could be deciphered from A. J.  Seymour's  poem) in its progress consigning itself to space (as could be deciphered from A. J. Seymour's poem) and has committed suicide. So sprung this series of poems called, "The Awakening" inspired by Arthur Seymour's "The Legend Of Kaieteur". So as to inspire unity, progress and democracy in the strictest sense of the word, to unleash the untapped  potential of Guyana and Guyana's children.           

The Awakening
After hundreds of thousands of years Kaie  had spent
Where the raging black waters of the Potaro vent -
Came that day when Makanaima relent
From the pedestal of the sacred rock sent
One drop of water to let flew,  to awaken stone aged Kaie
And as he gazed above the gorge where glory fly
In iridescent tapestry from the sky
The foundation of the earth shook and the stars flew
Birds of the air trumpeted  songs in the morning dew
And winged their way across the regal sky's view
Like stars and moons and suns they grew
With bended wings as not to obstruct Omnipotence
In a singular sentence of reverence
The awakened souls mellow to the tropical sight
And marveled that omnipotence condescend to visit earth that night
 
And  mingling substance of marvelous light
Arising from the mountain's crest
Imbuing night and day the same and the tropical nest 
Like the waking of a new dawn
Like alleluia and  soul revival morn
The folding tide of Kaieteur's immaculate gate
That strutted over  the rolling savannahs, and the coastal plate
Signal green of forested nature, a crown upon the agricultural State
 
Kaie humbly bow upon his " wood skin" canoe and cried
As he relived the memories of his tribe
And looked for his companion in the tide.

Under the glorified  rainbow sacred sky
Where glory called the worlds from on high
And covenanted  to you and I
There with  magnificence, God formed the earth -  man to live and not to die ( before sin entered )
Far across the rolling plains and mountains high
Where the flowering Pakaraima  roam
Perched Mount Roraima's dome
The flowing Valley of Crystal spread
Liberally overflowing love into lakes, waterfalls and the canyon's river bed
To bring from within the peace that mankind most felt
And bow to worship wherein Omniscient foot stool dwelt
 
Below the beast of the field graze where the memories of the Patamona tribe slept
Where Kaie  hoped and wept
Where the Caribishi came and dealt
The death blow and themselves melted into history
This is the essence of my story
In this condition we languished, our vanquished spirits tarry
 
Soaked in blood and pain and brotherhood
Man against man, brother against brother -  misunderstood.
Out of struggles known and unknown
Wickedness and scorn condoned
Ripping  at  the water ways of our soul - now gaze upon the beckoning white light even alone
A savior must be born to deliver
When the  wings of change comes from  constant prayer

GUYANA'S DEVASTATING FLOOD
My sun, my moon, gorgeous sky
Lush green, tropical eye
Mountain peaks where glory fly
See it through my eyes
In every heart beat
In every rhyme
In every step of my feet
My every sublime
See it through my eyes
My pain,  my pain
From holy rain
Sea - rivers and plenty rain
Rapid flood across the coastal plain
See it through my eyes
Conservancy overtopping -seeping black water, black death
Still didn't call the Dutch yet!
Kokers clogged emitting mud
Sea Walls - the bastion made with Dutch brains and Native blood
Stop the politicking
Do some engineering
See it through my eyes
Hold Sea Walls against the wicked waves !
Protect your native daughter from a watery grave
Your native son from dying like  scum
Run call the Dutch, to save the Native Land
Save your mother from death and destruction
See it through my eyes
Unholy stench - running blood
Crippled town
Repine upon the tropical plain
See it through my eyes.
To see the Garden City under water
I write
Albouystown, Sophia
I write
 Campbellville, Tucville
I write
Plaisance, LBI, Beterverwagting
I write
 Annadale,  Buxton
I write
Enmore, Golden Grove
I write
Cove & John,  Ann's Grove
I write
Diamond,  Herstelling
I write
Endeavour,  pouderoyen
I write
See it through my eyes.

Where the Pomeroon Meets
Down the river Essequibo where the Pomeroon meets
To get my pot of gold. My journey to complete
Under the shores like men of yore. Toiling in the sun and heat
Of this blessed earth. My melodic songs will seek
Like poetry and the reverent hymn. With reverence meek
I bow. My mud-caked feet on the ground that my God did speak
And shout to the heavens: My Eldorado I found which men seek
To journey home along the rivers banks and caves
My vivid dream and my Cinderella will come. To talk in lofty phrase
Of my travels and things I've seen. Under the moon-lit sky of the days
Bringing to life a new born. To the essence of life one's left amazed
And the things that men found cans never be heaven bound.
And craved like food to return to the Pomeroon. To refill the vision of all age
All sons and daughters will journey too. And always will remain
In Guyana's heart-land. Where from the bosom remembers again
Even in solitude and distant lands. And will hasten to bring fame
To my Beloved Mother or Father. My heart-felt love, a heart which bled in pain
Demerara, Berbice, Essequibo where the Pomeroon meets Guyana remains

The Road OF Remembrance
down the road of remembrance goes
back from this age of slender hope
when giants stormed the walls of Jericho
and men capture the elements to cope
when Sheba's beauty sits unoppose
atop the wisdom of Solomon like a joke
and, alas, never to hear a croak
then besoughted by the surgical maneuvering and travail
daunting fears and struggles man has known
blood and mangled flesh left a trail
flowing through the ages inscribe on stone
to dehumanized my brains, they tried and fail
the memories of Golgotta never gone
left in the bosom of a new race
ripples of selfishness from the ocean of time
sprouts and struts with a new face
and shook a pocket of dime

WE SANG
The moonlight rebounds like starlight
Like candle-flies in full flight
Married to the white sand, the glistening white stones within
Like diamonds, those precious gems flickering.
Running, skating on card boards down the hill
We beat our feet in flight to the crest, our hearts delight to fulfill
And through the moonlit night we played
Until tired, sometimes, our enthusiasm fades.
Sometimes in the dark but specially moonlit night
We sang, "I lost my belt on a Saturday night.
Then continued to sing, " Brown girl in the ring...
And, " London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling...
Then to sing, " Ring, ting, ting, everybody hear dis ting
My girl fren' promise to give me someting
And the church bell ring
And the birds gon sing
But she promise to give meh someting, ting, ting."

A Caribbean Thing
Sitting in the boat
Rocking to the tide
taking note
'Tis a musical ride.
Gentle sun on my back
so soothing.
Makes me want to relax
without caring.
The lofty waves break into soft billows
While the blue sky creates mystery.
There the soul mellows
To the Caribbean scenery
Dazzled with delight
An uncomprehendable joy.
What a sight!

Guyana's Sea Walls
I know a sea walls where love was born
Where love returned and love to scorn
Where dates were made and fall apart again
Like the elusive 'S' of spade in the lovers game
The sea walls where the sky looks big
And eyes alight from within sometimes skid
Knowing not to tender hearts may bring.
The same sea walls where I'll love you until
Where I'll love you until death. Until!
Sometimes its love fulfill
And those who love spares, may wait until
To revisit the sea walls and love will.
That sea walls where as far as I can see. The sea departs
But lovers come with tender hearts
Though muddy deep and wide goes the sea
My love for you will always be
Though morning gone and night by then
My love for you will never end.

Copyright ©2005 James Charlton Richmond
James Richmond was born and raised in Guyana. His writings are influenced primarily by his love of Guyana and the Caribbean region where he lived and worked. He has published two books of poetry, "Reflections of Today" and "Where the Pomeroon Meets." Presently, he has compiled forty-nine of his poems on compact disc (CD) called, "Emerging Sound." He resides in New York.