Poems

For Alister

Sometimes you missed the beat

Sometimes we lost sight of the melody

Which flattens the chord

That overlays the rhythmic foundation.

It would have been unwitting

That cadence of the Simon/Tobias

‘Folksy Jingles’, written generations ago,

Would have morphed, someday,

Into elements of a tribute to one of the most illustrious

Satellites in our Galaxy.

But unlike “… the Old Lamp Lighter”

Alister McIntyre not only made “The Night a little brighter”

His thoughts transcended our world and its insularities in so many different ways.

From modest beginnings

In his homeland Grenada

He soared into the clouds of

High profiledom, academia,

Diplomacy, Statehood, family man and

Mentor with distinction “ …beyond

Our Fathers’ wildest dreams” without

Ever losing the common touch nor the

Zen for new exploration’

It was this zest for learning and yearning

That mast the sails which floated the ship

Propelling him to further glory,

Even as destiny’s lamp burnt dimmer and dimmer in the distant horizon,

Despite the ravages lurking in the hearts of tigers

In the fluttering wings of the bald eagle

While pulsating in the umbilical cord

Of the unborn.

Yes master Navigator of troubled waters

Sometimes you lost sight of the formal melody

Only to create your own harmony

While wading in the temporizing embrace

Of your beloveds and dancing to the rhythms

Of your own symphony.

Yes master Navigator of uncharted waters

Sometimes you even missed the beat and moored your riggings

Too close to the edge of shark-infested lagoons

But survived through the graces of Unseen,

Unknown, Unsolicited … Deus ex machina

Tonight there shall be no tears

Only fragments of joy scattered in your pathway

Hoping that only goodness and flowers will blossom

In that space you left behind.

– N. Augustus Richards

New Limits

No man outruns the choices he makes

But learns from the chances he takes

I am much wiser today

Learning to let God lead the way

There’s no comparison to my love …

Love for my soul dove

It’s not only my heart’s desire

And for her I pushed my limits even higher

It’s the will to love the same

Enduring all the pain

Love is a selfless thing

A patient man becomes King

What’s in the past doesn’t matter

Who I am I define despite what happened in the latter

Experiencing confusion and internal fights

Learning to stay firm and true to what is right

In finding my weaknesses I found my strengths

I now know my limits due to how far I went

Holding on to the values in me

Because changing life begins with changing how I see

– Patrick A. Morris