Challenging Poetry

Barbados: the bearded ones

they called us
the bearded ones—
from the roots of fig trees
and the spray of water
over our reefs—
and stuffed us
until no grain of sand
was unclaimed.

can you hear it?
there is nowhere we stand
without the surf roar,
echoing “in plenty
and in time of need,”
while the fig trees
wave their bearded roots—
our heart song.

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