GABBY AND NELSON
Dr. The Most Honourable Anthony Gabby Carter (our Gabby) is one of Barbados’ cultural lighthouses. He is a musician and a poet, and we can hardly separate the poet from the musician. This is the poem that he published recently, after Nelson’s statue was removed from Trafalgar Square in Bridgetown on 16 November 2020.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Caribbean, the poem is written in Bajan English, like all of Gabby’s poems.
For your information, next year (2021), on the occasion of its 55th independence Anniversary, Barbados will become a Republic, thus ending the colonial relationship with the British Crown.
Here’s Gabby’s Poem:
FORMER GREAT BRITAIN
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Hello Former Great Britain
I'm your Former Colonial Son
I'm sending dis Text
(Don’t get vex)
Tuh let chuh know
My work on Nelson is done
My Comrades
Friends and Colleagues
Opted for Dignity
To preserve it
To reserve it
When I wanted it
Dumped into the sea!
They prospective
Was more acceptable
Might bring us
Long Time gain
In warm Tourism Dollars
From you and him
Who
Caused us pain
At the climax of the ceremony
Most unceremoniously
I saw a truck
(With Nelson at de back)
Heading fast into History
He was lying
In some Plywood
Or some other cheap
Deserving Disgrace
If I could have gotten Close Enough
I would have spat on his face!
Slowly they drove him
Up Broad street
A man mean and unkind
Bajans dressed
In their clothing of his day
With a solemn
Tuk band behind
The people
Stood there in Silence
At last they got their wish
The Removal
Of Nelson's Statue
Good riddance to Rubbish!
Some joked and said
Crumbz Bakery
Would look good
Placed right there
I said oh no!
Nanny Grig or Cuffy
Would bring Joy
To de atmosphere
And so....
Former Great Britain
I have more news for you
By the 30th of November
(Next year)
We'll be ....
A Republic Too!
Oh you
Former Great Britain
(Now known as the U.K)
Decay
Is set upon you
Your Power
And your Presence
Is quickly fading away!
In this beautiful island
You once called
Little England
Your influence is waning
For Proudly now we Stand
Your sins are not forgotten
Nor how
You behaved like Sharks
Our Psyche
And Economic Picture
Still vividly bear the Marks
We are...
An Invincible People
We'll break
Each Bond
Each Chain
You and Nelson
Could not hold us
And so....
We'll Rise Again!
Written November 22nd ,2020. From 7.47 am to 8.13 am.
By: Dr. The Most Honourable Anthony Gabby Carter