The New Land - Cyril M. Kanhai

In the darkness tonight
I suddenly became aware
Of the land
As I had never before been aware of it
Before.
In the midst of the bundaree bush
Humble blooms of red flowers
Sweeten the foul air.
The grass is growing greener,
And where prickly thorns blossom
Creeping pumpkin vines entwine them
With their strong roots
To feed the starved
And clothe the naked
Of the land.

May there yet be spring,
In the light of day,
From the scorched soil of the heart of man,
The torrent of love
Strangling every strange weed
And flooding the new land
To make it rich
And fertile and free.

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Cyril M. Kanhai (20th century) Guyana
Source: Barbados - Poems and Poetry