BE KIND TO NATURE
Let her be your mother
Or beloved wife
Or doted child.
Love her.
Cherish her.
Plant her trees to capture water
And give you peace.
Food for you and generations unborn.
Her trees you blacken into lifeless coal
And denude the beaches of sand.
My friend, houses you build atop mountains
In the sea, waterways.
You burn rubbish, grass, at will.
You litter the floor and invade with plastics the sea.
You cry about drought in the rains and rain in the dries,
Mudslides and landslides that bury communities
And blight souls.
Rape of girls for water.
Be kind to nature
To receive just measure.
Love and respect her.
She will give you peace.
Mɛntɛ-Mɛntɛ Nechɔ
Tek am lɛk yu mama
Ɔ lɛk yu wɛf we yu lɛk pasmak
Ɔ yu wanshilin rop
Lɛk am
Bayo-bayo am
Plant bɔku tik dɛm fɔ kech wata
Ɛn i go gi yu kolat
Go gi u beberebe it fɔ yu ɛn yu pikin dɛn bambay
In tik dɛn ɔl yu dɔn bɔn fɔ mek chakol
Ɛn dɔn kliya ɔl di sansan na di bich dɛm
Mi padi, una dɔn bil os pantap il, insay wata ɛn ivin sɛf usay wata fɔ pas
Yu de mek a-dɔn-kiya-dam de bɔn dɔti ɛn gras fiti-fata
Yu de trowe dɔti na grɔn ɛn mek plastik dɔn mared di dip si
Yu de kray se wata nɔ de ren sizin ɛn se ren de kam dray sizin
Dɔti de kɔt ɛn kɔba wan ol kɔmyuniti
Ɛn tek bɔku sol
Dem don rep bɔku gyal pikin dɛn biyɛn tot wata
Mɛntɛ-mɛntɛ nechɔ
Fɔ mek i gi yu ɛyɛ
Lɛk ɛn rɛspɛkt am
Insɛf go mɛntɛ-mɛntɛ yu
Do They Even Know It’s Their Day?
For all Unsung Women, on the International Day of Women 2021
Oh women of the Sierra
Who till the land
And labour from sunrise to sunset
To breathe and be
Do you even know it’s your day?
Do you even know it’s your day?
Women who keep bees
And sell the honey to sweeten lives
Women stung by life
To mould lives
Oh women of the Sierra, do you know it’s your day?
Women of the Sierra
Who eat after your husbands’ full
Who split firewood with young on backs
Who walk miles and miles to farm
Who breathe only when allowed
Who talk only when allowed
Who rest only when allowed
Who sit only when allowed
Do you even know, that today is your day?
And you,
Who break your backs and bones
To mine stones
You who transform living trees into coal
In the scorching sun you eat
In the sweat of your face you eat
Do you know
That today is your day?
You who march up and down as though on patrol
Your hair a hedgehog
Your beauty hidden beneath your bags and rags
Your once clear mind now a dustbin or sieve
Your soul trapped between mountains of abuse
Yesterday’s torture
Broke the strings of your heart and reduced the music of your
Soul to an orchestra of dissonance
And today?
Do you know,
That today is your day?
Do you know that today is your day ?
Yesterday
Your nos made no difference to his yeses
Your clothes he stripped
Your dignity he stripped
Your soul he stripped
The smell of his skin chases you in dreams
His hands that bound yours
As he took you
Again and again,
He took you
Do you know that today is your day?
Oh women of the Sierra
Who live on the margins of society
Whose rivers of tears never dry
Whose pain is ever fresh
Lazarus-like your lives are empty
One day you will celebrate
Joyfulness will crown your essence
Dɛn Ivin No Se Na Dɛn De?
(Fɔ Ɔl Di Uman Dɛn We De Du Gud Wok Bɔt Nɔ De Gɛt Prez, Dis Intanashɔnal De Fɔ Uman Dɛm 2021)
O uman dɛm ɔf di Siyara
We de dig di grɔn fɔ plant
Lɛk lebra frɔm we san grap te i go dɔng
Fɔ mɛk layf go ɔn
Una ivin no se na una de?
Una ivin no se na una de?
Uman dɛn we de kip ɔni dɛn
Ɛn sɛl di ɔni fɔ mek dɛn tu tɔn fo
Uman dɛm we ɔni bɛt
Jis fɔ mek layf swit
O uman dɛm ɔf di Siyara, una ivin no se na una de?
Uman dɛn ɔf di Siyara
We de it afta una man dɔn bɛlful
We de plit wud wit yɔng bebi na bak
We de waka go Ilɛtɛ fɔ go fam
We de blo wɛn dɛn tɛl una fɔ blo
We nɔ go tɔk pas dɛn tɛl una fɔ tɔk
We nɔ de rɛst pas dɛn tɛl una se go blo
We nɔ de sidɔm pas dɛn tɛl una se sidɔm
Una ivin no se tide na una de?
Ɛn yu
We de brok yu bak ɛn bon
Fɔ brok ston
Yu we de kɔt tik ɛn tɔn am chakol
Sidɔm de it ɔnda di ɔt-ɔt san
Swɛt de rɔndɔng yu fes sɛf yu de it
Yu no
Fɔ tru se tide na una de?
Yu we de wirɔn ɔp ɛn dɔng lɛk u de du patrol
Yu iya lɛk chɛk chɛk fɔl
Di tin we kɔl yu uman ayd insay yu bag ɛn chɛrchɛr klos
Ɔl yu tinkin naw dɔn fiba dɔti bɔks ɛn sifta
Ɔl wetin dɔn lɛf pan yu naw na aw dɛn fɔ abyuz yu
Yɛstade tɔchɔ
Pul di jati-jati dɛn na yu at ɛn ridyus di myuzik
Na yu sol to myuzik we nɔ gri wit myuzik
Ɛn tide?
Yu ivin no se tide na yu de?
Yu no se tide na yu de?
Yɛstade
Yu nɔ den na bin lɛk we yu trowe wata na dɔks bak ,to in yɛs den
Yu klos i pul pan yu
Udat yu bi, i nyaka nyaka
I luk yu ɛn mek yu nɔ bi natin
In bɔdi in smɛl de tɔmɛnt yu pan yu drim
I ol yu tait fɔ mek yu nɔ rɔnawe
As I rep yu
Egen eh egen
Yu no se tide na una de?
O uman dɛn na Siyara
We de lib pan lili ɛn natin
Udat in kray nɔ de dɔn
We de fil pen ɛbride
Lɛk Lazarus yu nɔ gɛt natin na layf
Wan de gladi-gladi mɔs mit yu
Ladida go mek yu bi udat yu bi