MEDITATION ON YELLOW

1


1. At three in the afternoon
2. you landed here at El Dorado
3. (for heat engenders gold and
4. fires the brain)
5. Had I known I would have
6. brewed you up some yellow fever-grass
7. and arsenic


8. but we were peaceful then
9. child-like in the yellow dawn of our innocence


10. so in exchange for a string of islands
11. and two continents


12. you gave us a string of beads
13. and some hawk's bells


14. which was fine by me personally
15. for I have never wanted to possess things
16. I prefer copper anyway
17. the smell pleases our lord Yucahuna
18. our mother Attabeira
19. It's just that copper and gold hammered into guanin
20. worn in the solar pendants favored by our holy men
21. fooled you into thinking we possessed the real thing
22. (you were not the last to be fooled by our
23. patina)


24. As for silver
25. I find that metal a bit cold
26. The contents of our mines
27. I would have let you take for one small mirror
28. to catch and hold the sun


29. I like to feel alive
30. to the possibilities
31. of yellow


32. lightning striking


33. perhaps as you sip tea
34. at three in the afternoon
35. a bit incontinent
36. despite your vast holdings
37. (though I was gratified to note
38. that despite the difference in our skins
39. our piss was exactly the same shade of yellow)


40. I wished for you
41. a sudden enlightenment that
42. we were not the Indies
43. nor Cathay
44. No Yellow Peril here
45. though after you came
46. plenty of bananas
47. oranges
48. sugar cane
49. You gave us these for our
50. maize
51. pineapples
52. guavas
53. – in that respect
54. there was fair exchange


55. But it was gold
56. on your mind
57. gold the light
58. in your eyes
59. gold the crown
60. of the Queen of Spain
61. (who had a daughter)
62. gold the prize
63. of your life
64. the crowning glory
65. the gateway to heaven
66. the golden altar
67. (which I saw in Seville
68. five hundred years after)


69. Though I couldn't help noticing
70. (this filled me with dread):


71. silver was your armour
72. silver the cross of your Lord
73. silver the steel in your countenance
74. silver the glint of your sword
75. silver the bullet I bite


76. Golden the macca
77. the weeds
78. which mark our passing
79. the only survivors
80. on yellow-streaked soil


81. We were The Good Indians
82. The Red Indians
83. The Dead Indians


84. We were not golden
85. We were a shade too brown.

2


86. At some hotel
87. overlooking the sea
88. you can take tea
89. at three in the afternoon
90. served by me
91. skin burned black as toast
92. (for which management apologizes)


93. but I've been travelling long
94. cross the sea in the sun-hot
95. I've been slaving in the cane rows
96. for your sugar
97. I've been ripening the coffee beans
98. for your morning break
99. I've been dallying on the docks
100. loading your bananas
101. I've been toiling in orange groves
102. for your marmalade
103. I've been peeling ginger
104. for your relish
105. I've been chopping cocoa pods
106. for your chocolate bars
107. I've been mining aluminium
108. for your foil


109. And just when I thought
110. I could rest
111. pour my own
112. – something soothing
113. like fever-grass and lemon –
114. cut my ten
115. in the kitchen
116. take five


117. a new set of people
118. arrive
119. to lie bare-assed in the sun
120. wanting gold on their bodies
121. cane-rows in their hair
122. with beads – even bells


123. So I serving them
124. coffee
125. tea
126. cock-soup
127. rum
128. Red Stripe beer
129. sensimilla
130. I cane-rowing their hair
131. with my beads


132. But they still want more
133. want it strong
134. want it long
135. want it black
136. want it green
137. want it dread


138. Though I not quarrelsome
139. I have to say: look
140. I tired now


141. I give you the gold
142. I give you the land
143. I give you the breeze
144. I give you the beaches
145. I give you the yellow sand
146. I give you the golden crystals


147. And I reach to the stage where
148. (though I not impolite)
149. I have to say: lump it
150. or leave it
151. I can't give anymore


152. For one day before I die
153. from five hundred years of servitude
154. I due to move
155. from kitchen to front verandah
156. overlooking the Caribbean Sea
157. drinking real tea
158. with honey and lemon
159. eating bread (lightly toasted, well buttered)
160. with Seville orange marmalade


161. I want to feel mellow
162. in that three o'clock yellow


163. I want to feel
164. though you own
165. the silver tea service
166. the communion plate
167. you don't own
168. the tropics anymore


169. I want to feel
170. you cannot take away


171. the sun dropping by every day
172. for a chat


173. I want to feel
174. you cannot stop
175. Yellow Macca bursting through
176. the soil reminding us
177. of what's buried there


178. you cannot stop
179. those street gals
180. those streggehs
181. Allamanda
182. Cassia
183. Poui
184. Golden Shower
185. flaunting themselves everywhere


186. I want to feel:


187. you cannot tear my song
188. from my throat


189. you cannot erase the memory
190. of my story


191. you cannot catch
192. my rhythm


193. (for you have to born
194. with that)


195. you cannot comprehend
196. the magic


197. of anacondas
198. changing into rivers
199. like the Amazon
200. boas dancing in my garden
201. arcing into rainbows
202. (and I haven't had a drop
203. to drink – yet)


204. You cannot reverse
205. Bob Marley wailing


206. making me feel
207. so mellow


208. in that Caribbean yellow
209. at three o'clock


210. any day now.