O Friend You Are Still Here? Poem by Mohabeer Beeharry

I am nothing without you,
Far and wide have I wandered,
Passed rough areas, town and cities
Carrying tinsels of golden medals
Seeking to know who am I.

Wealth had come and wealth had gone,
Like sugar attracting marauding ants
That starve me from the fruits of my own labour.

Many aprofessed friend had I,
Nears and dears, selfish and perpetually hungry
Steady as long as the rum ran
And food was plenty.

Who cares that my boat is gone
Shattered one night on the rocks,
No more fish to grace the table?
That old age has caught up with me?

The old bottle of rum is long dried
And buried into the sand.
The evenings no longer ring
With the usual sounds of the triangles and the tambourines
Andno songs hit the moonlit nights.

The nights are long, tedious and lonely
And the tears stingy!
Why are the tambourine silent?
The casuarinas are still green, surveying the sea,
The Conde birds yodeling.
But the grass is quiet, no echoes of approaching footsteps.

In this star lit tranquility, restless
A presence of serene comfort still lingers
One only flower that dares my wasteland
One song that enlivens the parched desert of my life.
And I realise that you are still near, dear dear friend!