Errol Walton Barrow, The Statesman

(In Terza Rima)

Errol Walton Barrow, the Statesman

Found island a garden of villages,

Father of Barbados' Independence,

And plantations steep with British linkage.

1950, Barrow with contestants

Campaigned with vigor, for the St George seat

Which he captured, the House felt his presence.

Lawyer/economist was hard to beat

His platform, for progress and for reform;

The other side of the aisle was his meat.

Veteran of WW2 did transform

The evil laws that ruled this great island

That flowed with colonial chloroform.

The folds and wrinkles on the land he ironed

Out, left by self-serving occupiers;

From his vineyard, fruits we eat have ripened.

The poor no longer seen as pariahs

By invaders surfing with blue-box gang;

The poor with the rich now are land buyers.

On his legacy Barbadians cling;

This independence needs no queen or king.

© Paterika Hengreaves

(January 19, 2010)