For Dance Bahamas
I. Wheel and Tu’n Roun’
.
I too strong
Home is in my waist
I don’t die
Though they put me in a grave
I come up again
I carry home on my hips
I carry it like a gourd
In my hands on my head
Lies can’t steal home
Home is in my feet
Make space
.
II. Tita Over the Sky
.
Big sister, das me
I claim the waves
I claim the sand
Make space for me
Make room for us
We have a new home
Mama Earth is with me
Papa Sky is here too
Watch me dance
Watch me stretch
High enough to
Beat the sun
Like a drum
Goom-goom
.
III. Junkanoo under Moon and Sun
.
Make space for me
I carry home in my breast
In my waist
On my shoulders
I callin the ole people
I bringin the ghosts
I openin the door fa dem
I crossin over, I openin the door in the moon
I soon shake my head like I crazy
I soon grin at the stars
And cross my eyes at you
You can’t fake dis
You can’t dance dis
Ole ghosts and white rum
Make dis strong
Makin dis magic
Ole ghosts in my foot
In da drum
Goom-goom
Goom-goom
Make space
Sun hot
We don’t care
Make space
Dis road is we own now
Dis square is we square
Who you is?
Dis me
Dis me now
Make space
I carry home on my hips
Sun hot and we don’ care
Dis dance like fire
Sun ain’ nuttin
If I hide my face
You just gone know is me
Love dis
Love me
Love you
•••
Ian Gregory Strachan is the author of several plays, including No Seeds in Babylon, Fatal Passage, and Diary of Souls. His other works include the novel God’s Angry Babies, the academic treatise Paradise and Plantation: Tourism and Culture in the Anglophone Caribbean, and the documentary Show Me Your Motion.
tongues of the ocean 