salaam (for Leroy Calliste 1943-1975)

SALAAM

am i to sit

and stare at these

wretched walls

and curse.....

with my memories of you....

poet....

messenger of this season

refuted by ignorant ones

or am i to laugh...ironically

to engulf the lamentations

within...benighting it from the public

can any of these moves

truly present themselves

as aid for your resurrection?

you have left us....

as babylon the whore

laughs...exclaiming conquest

in her lewd form of exaultation

and... mother weeps

with our daughters viewing her

expressing exasperation

i cannot speak of

a young warroir feeding the land

nor of spilt blood and green vines

curling about withered sticks

yet i am to yearn again

for pristine mornings

when we can meet each other

dancing the ancestral dance

through the glade like passage of ebony

where the chanting voices of

our mothers

sisters

and daughters

make tearful eyes

as we faintly remember

the weavers of the dust

salaam..... brother

what more can i wish?

may the memory of you

inspire the awakening flame

of distruction for babylon....

may the memory of you

enrich and nourish

the sensitivity of others

to follow us

salaam my brother

PEACE !!!!

Published 1977 New Voices Journal No. 9 page 42