Halfway. (Poetry).

Halfway

Paloma Mohamed

Let it not be said that from this little life
I left as I came, knowing nothing.
Whether it spans long or cut short
that life's little mysteries evaded me,
So much Time in solitude and in crowded places have
I in searching spent,
So much innocence have I lost
thinking I had something to gain.

Still upon this single rock, hurtling through
a silver dashed night I made my home
along with billions of other who knew even less,
who bent on living and whose ways I watched,
studies intentively, thinking I had something to learn,

I prayed, clawed the dust, climbed the, mountains halfway
sometimes swam in the water, tasted the river and flew
beloved as I was of the winged things.
I watched the mouths of strangers, kissed
the toes of babies, dove deep into lovers
eyes, felt the lash of living, felt
a boundless joy and thought I
had carried some indefinable right to these things.

You see I was told this was the reason for my coming
to learn if not to teach, to worship and to reach beyond
myself. In some places I stayed too long, at others I barely
granced. There is too much and I am small and finite, they said.

But if learned nothing, if I learned nothing,
a single truth has made the difference:
In the scheme of things yes, I am small,
but finite I am not at all, I AM an
everlasting, light dancing in creative grace,
I am the universe encased in this flesh.
And death will not erase me I chose to live like this
With man, with beast, with sceptre, with ghosts
I daily make my peace.

Paloma Mohamed, award winning playwright, poet and mass communication consultant is one of Guyana's young voices. She received the 1998 National Guyanese Award for drama. Her poems have been anthologized by local and foreign publishers, including Heinemann (London). Her first collection of poems, Come Fiah was published in 1994. Paloma Mohamed studied at the University of Guyana and is active in the cultural life of Guyana.

Playwright and poet Paloma Mohamed, the 1998 recipient of Guyana's National award for Drama, is one of Guyana's vibrant young writers. Her plays are colorful and insightful. They vary from social commentary to comedy to satire. Language is dialect -- Guyanese Creole and standard English. Her most acclaimed plays are Reggae Marley, Masquerade in Black. Anybody See Brenda? All for Money and Jezebel. Paloma's plays are produced locally and for audiences in the U.S.A. and other parts of the Caribbean.