Fire and Peace

Peace is not silence, no hush, no disguise,

Not closing my mouth or dimming my eyes.

It is not the absence of quarrel or fight,

But a living flame, bold and bright.

Peace is the sea in the blush of the morn,

Its rhythm declaring, you’re never forlorn.

The waves sing my heartbeat, steady and strong,

They whisper, Daughter, you’ve been here all along.

I have walked Antigua’s streets, pen in hand,

Truth my companion, my heart my command.

For decades I’ve known peace is not found in a place,

But in daily negotiation, in courage and grace.

Peace is the sun pouring gold through the sky,

Stubborn and patient as hours drift by.

It teaches me softly, Let time find its way,

You need not resist what the hours will say.

Peace is confrontation, standing up tall,

Facing the wounds, the injustice, the call.

The storms that descend, the lands that I love,

I meet with clear truth, not the venom of shove.

Peace is not fury, though courage is near,

It chooses clarity, not the poison of fear.

Peace is the strength in the Black of my skin,

Legacies etched and the fire within.

Chains turned to song, history made strong,

A lineage unbroken, a lasting life-long.

It’s me in the newsroom, my pen sharp and free,

The children I mentor reflect back me.

My body evolving, my spirit unchained,

My becoming itself is rebellion proclaimed.

Peace is laughter beneath mango trees,

After the storm, after the rain and the breeze.

It’s tears released, washing pain from my face,

The soft surprise of imperfection’s embrace.

It’s radical openness, transformation vast,

Walking new paths, leaving the past.

Peace is movement, alive in its core,

Not stillness in postcards, not locked-up, not stored.

Textured, complex, both tender and grand,

It asks me to give, it holds out its hand.

As I rise, peace rises, it grows as I grow,

Shaped by my voice, the light that I show.

Each story I tell, each challenge I face,

Peace walks beside me, my lifelong embrace.

Peace is not quiet, nor small, nor concealed,

It’s the steady hum of a life fully healed.

It is fierce, unyielding, alive and set free,

It is the song of a Black Caribbean me.