THE LOST ARAWAK

12th October 1492:

Out of the East they came,

Black beards against white skins.

We thought they were Gods,

Sons of the Aztec Quetzalcoatl,

Come again!

But…

They were men,

And proved it on our naked backs,

Making masters' marks with whips;

While our women bore their weight

In other ways!

Guanahani saw us no more;

Cigatoo lay like a broken calabash

In the shallow sea.

Zemi and duho were hidden

By the sweet waters of Bimini.

In chains, we came to the High Island,

They called: 'Hispaniola',

Though we knew it by a different name.

Enchained, we labored in mine and field;

And they talked of a gentle god!

In chains, we labored,

And in chains…

We died!

12th October 1548: 

                            Only the wind blows free,

Over the Islands of our birth.