Searching For My Dreams Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

I, too,
search for my dreams
without guidance
of a dreamer.
I travel around the moon
among stars
(how they twinkle to see me) ,
float on clouds
just to watch the blue skies.
And then…
I return here
sipping cammomile tea
strolling the deck of a cruise ship;
look around every port
on the islands –
even talk to deck-hands
as they return from the wharf
on stop-over from Guyana
(I was born there, too) ,
even write an email
to the UG Chancellor
about stalking at night
on the long haul to Turkeyen.
And then…
In a quiet moment
I begin to hear beating of drums
tassa sound like a ritual -
something like macunaima;
I see cutlass and sugar-cane
and a dark-skinned man in soot
indentureship like a halo around him;
Demerara rum splashing
to appease him…
as I search for my dreams.