Speaking of Haiti

Caught in the crucible of empire,

Forces beyond your control pulled –

Pulled and tore at your fabric,

Until you were frayed like rope,

The instrument of conflict in a global tug-of-war.

You were the gem coveted by vain men.

Great powers built their wealth

Upon your scarred and bloodied back,

Until you shook with the audacity of freedom.

Servants and slaves, rising in rage,

Stormed onto the world’s stage

To act out a new type of drama,

But there was no applause.

No one was willing to watch the show.

The birth of this new republic

Should have been, could have been, an example,

And so it was.

From the start, an example was made.

This is what happens to those that forget their place;

Persona non grata on a national scale.

God forbid others follow your footsteps.

Fretting and fearful, a chorus proclaimed,

“Liberty? Maybe. Prosperity? Never.”

Outcast and shunned, you were left to wither.

And so the struggle began.

Yours became a game of catch up,

But the race was fixed from the start.

One step forward and two steps back

Became no steps forward,

Became light years behind,

As the world raced ahead without you,

Leaving you defeated, then forgotten.

On the streets of the world community

You are the pauper as we hurry by,

Throwing our tokens into your tin cup,

But never looking into your eyes

Lest they reflect our guilt.

Better not to meet your wretched gaze,

For yours is the face of our shame

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[Author's Note" This poem was written in 2010 and submitted to the Caper Literary Journal anthology, "Vwa: Poems for Haiti", in the wake of that year's catastrophic earthquake. Though it did not make the cut for the anthology, the poem was included on the anthology's website, as a sort of "honorable mention".]