I Don'T Know Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

I don't know
if tomorrow will come
with my head hanging in shame
as I recoil
from home-grown Socialism.

But those who pride themselves
as Comrades of a Revolution
trying to construct a path
with pebbles of Marx
and Lenin
and Kim ll Sung
they're sadly wooing
our people
into deeper self-destruction.

As new vistas unfold
in the illimitable horizon
these comrades
shackle the nation
in entrapment
they fill their coffers
with the toil
and sweat
and blood
of our people.

Along the way
the path behind
becomes broken
and disjointed
leaving the nation
parched with hunger
there is no bread
to eat
the strength of our people
drained
like the juice
from a ripe mango
squeezed to the last drop.

Fear of our people's survival
enhancing in the sleepless hours
of the night
gun-toting bandits
roam the streets
knocking down doors
raping sisters
raping mothers
killing fathers and sons
maddened by the impotence
of their weakened victims.

When such Socialism
can breed maggots
in the minds of Comrades
and let a nation weep
while they sleep
I pray in earnest
not to be a part
of its machinations.

(This poem is surfacing from my
archive - written on June16,1984.
It was not so long ago THE JONESTOWN MASSACRE
took place) .