Leh de ol' higue1 wuk begin.
Put on you fiery disguise,
Ol' woman wid de weary eyes
Shed you swizzly skin.
Ball o' fire, raise up high
Raise up till you touch de sky.
Land 'pon top somebody roof
Tr'ipse in through de keyhole - poof!
Open you ol' higue eye.
Find de baby where 'e lie
Change back faster than de eye.
Find de baby, lif de sheet,
Mek de puncture wid you teet',
Suck de baby dry.
Before 'e wake an' start to cry
Change back fast, an' out you fly.
Find de goobie2 wid you skin
Mek de semidodge, then - in!
Grin you ol' higue grin.
In you dutty powder gown
Next day schoolchildren flock you round.
"Ol' higue, ol' higue!" dey hollerin' out
Tek it easy, hold you mout'
Doan leh dem find you out.
Dey gwine mark up wid a chalk
Everywhere wheh you got to walk
You bridge, you door, you jealousie
But cross de marks an' leh dem see
Else dey might spread de talk.
Next night you gone out jus' de same,
Wrap up in you ball o' flame,
To find an' suck another child,
But tikkay! Rumour spreading wild.
An' people know you name.
Fly across dis window sill,
Why dis baby lyin' so still?
Lif' de sheet like how you does do,
Oh God! Dis baby nightgown blue!
Run fo' de window sill!
Woman you gwine run or not?
Doan mind de rice near to de cot.
De smell o' asafoetida
Like um tek effect 'pon you.
You wan' get kyetch or what?
But now is too late for advice,
'Cause you done start to count de rice
An' if you only drop one grain
You must begin it all again.
But you gwine count in vain.
Whuh ah tell you?
Day done, light an' rice still mountin'
Till dey wake an' kyetch you countin'
An' pick up de big fat cabbage broom
An' beat you all around de room.
Is now you should start countin'
Whaxen! Whaxen! Whaxen! Plai!
You gwine pay fo' you sins befo' you die.
Lash she all across she head
You suck me baby till um dead?
Whaxen! Whaxen! Plai!
You feel de manicole3 'cross you hip?
Beat she till blood start to drip.
"Ow me God! You bruk me hip!
Done now, nuh? All you done!"
Is whuh you sayin' deh, you witch?
Done? Look, allyou beat de bitch.
Whaxen! Whaxen! Pladai! Plai!
Die, you witch you. Die.
Whaxen! Whaxen! Plai!
Wordsworth McAndrew (1936 - 2008) Guyana
Source: Wordsworth McAndrew
- higue - a witch who sheds her skin at night
- goobie - the Calabash Gourd (Crescentia alata). It is a fruit whose outer shell is hard and woody when it is dry. It was often used as a container to store things or as a bowl to dip water [Thanks to an anonymous communication who corrected my original note]
- manicole - A tall slender palm (Euterpe oleracea)
thank you for this find
ReplyDeleteI love this poem. It brings back memories.
ReplyDeleteJust went down memory lane and will do the poem at a concert tomorrow
ReplyDeleteThis poem just helped me passed a 25 mark exam
ReplyDeleteThis work is great talent
ReplyDeleteWordsworth remains to my mind one of the Foremost Folklorist, Playwright and Cultural Icon that Guyana has produced. His Publication Metagee I lost my copy and would love to locate a copy. Thank you for the memories.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the memories: Wordsworth MacAndrew remains to my mind, One of Guyana's foremost Folklorist, Playwright and Cultural Icon. His publication 'Metagee' I misplaced years ago, now I a motivated to get a copy pray it is not out of publication.
ReplyDeleteFor a short time, when he lived in Kitty, around the corner from me, Wordsworth was a good friend of mine. In that one-year span, I learned that he was very appropriately named. Words were his tool; his hobby; his to ingest, digest and regurgitate by his will & at his leisure. He was undoubtedly a genius; a genius in a context not represented by Ol' Higue, his most famous poem. He and I sat many a night in Harold Rambarran's parlour and had lengthy discourses on varied topics. I was quite a few years younger than he & said so many nice things about me and my intellect, that the fact that he was a genius did not register with me for a long time. That is, until one night when Harold was telling us about the chapter in his life that made him a wealthy man. He had been working on a ship, for a long period, when he had an accident which caused him to be-laid off and compensated with a large sum of money. There was a lengthy report which told the tale and Harold had a written copy of the report, which he invited us to read - together. Mc & I started reading together and I tried my best to read the document. But, by the time I was 6 lines into the first page, Mc was turning the page and I was forced to stop reading - resolving that out of deference to Harold, whom I liked & respected, I would actually read the document since Mc "obviously" did not read it. Harold protested, accusing Mc of not having the decency to read the document as he had promised to. McAndrew, W. calmly said to Harold: "...tell me what particular point you would have wanted me to note..." Harold responded that he had hoped that we would have seen the point made by the doctors about his injury. Harold & I sat in stunned silence as Wordsworth said "Oh, that was on page 10, line number 19." and he proceeded to quote that line, and the following four lines, verbatim.
DeleteWhat a great recollection - thank you so much for sharing
DeleteWhat a wonderful story
ReplyDeleteOne of my all-time favorites
ReplyDeleteI love this poem it gave me back alot memories
ReplyDeleteThis poem is funny n I gotto present o. This tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. I have find memories of listening to this poem. However you're missing a verse. The 7th verse has been omitted. It goes like this:
ReplyDeleteNext night you gone out jus' de same,
Wrap up in you ball o' flame,
To find an' suck another child,
But tikkay! Rumour spreading wild.
An' people know you name.
Thanks for this. I have updated the poem (the verse wasn't included in the version I had seen; however that link is now "dead" so I have updated that too!)
DeleteI'm happy to help! However you've put it one verse too far down. It goes before the verse that starts with "Fly across dis window sill".
DeleteSo it should read like this:
Next night you gone out jus' de same,
Wrap up in you ball o' flame,
To find an' suck another child,
But tikkay! Rumour spreading wild.
An' people know you name.
Fly across dis window sill,
Why dis baby lyin' so still?
Lif' de sheet like how you does do,
Oh God! Dis baby nightgown blue!
Run fo' de window sill!
Hope that helps! Thanks for all your work. I do hope you know it is much appreciated.
Thanks you :) Fixed, hopefully!
DeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this poem to, firstly, my own class, then to the entire school, as a Teacher at Commenius Moravian School in Queenstown, Georgetown, Guyana, from 1971 to 1973. Both Head-Teacher Basil McGowan and Asst. Head-Teacher Lucille Palmer were quite impressed by my efforts. My first job ever. Totally enjoyable, along with my Youth Under 19, and then West Indies cricket. What a different time! Colin Croft. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThis made my night findinf this after scouring the internet, I remember this from August holidays in Dora up the highway at the nightly fireside story telling 😍😍😍😍
ReplyDeleteThanks google! For bringing back a poem os lost!
ReplyDeleteHi unknown - I'm glad you liked the poem, but I'm not sure why you think Google needs to be thanked!
DeleteI think that "Unknown" chose to think of Google as a source without which he/she would not have been able to find the poem. You can think of it like this: Oxford English Dictionary does not have a particular word and neither does Webster's but you found it in Chambers 20th Century Dictionary. Now if that word was important relative to an important project you had to do, wouldn't you feel inclined to thank Chambers?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the meaning of trìpse ❓
ReplyDeleteHello - I'm not sure what your question applies to as the word "tripse" does not occur in the poem.
Delete