Sun-sharing

Alistair T.S.E. Allen

As Caribbean child of the fearful infinite sea

and endless sun, I licked early morning light

like tasty fruit of life to devour voraciously

without digesting the days to come and go

leaving insatiable hunger pangs for more

toddler bliss

 

I loved my ready-made comrades:

my smiling sisters

with older knowledgeable serenity

and younger beatitude of bliss

 

Succulent as mangoes~~in season waving

from tree with my navel string buried in its roots

~~was Mama’s chuckling sunny morning’s

disposition and dispensation of fat-sliced golden

fried plantains and tiny little fish that sometimes

had teeny eggs in them Papa would buy

 

Hard-headed hairy coconuts

– from front-yard tree with my big lil sis Adele’s

umbilical cord buried in its roots

– split open to savory water and tender flesh

like stern disciplinarian Papa whose heart of

gold and sweet soft sentimentality would

be revealed as my mute lil sis Izzy’s queenly

helplessness would break open his psyche’s majestic

manliness

 

Montserrat’s maternal nature loved me recklessly

endlessly

 

The salty scent of the sea crept into exultant

nostrils flaring for full lung capacity

 

Playful glorious paternal tropical sun gave

me all the resplendent light my skin could seize

 

The myriad friendly stars twinkled in brilliant

cacophony of overcrowded heavens leaving

no uncertainty of companionship

into the furthest most distant reaches of cosmos

 

Life waited patiently for me to open my eyes

every morning and I told it what I thought of it

every night in fantastical and prophetic dreams

of the worlds awaiting access by the calypso-

singing sea-girls wreathed with seaweed

from Montserrat mermaids mocking my toe-

tapping hesitation on the Caribbean Sea shores

 

24/8/2021