Dedicated to MY NANA Rosa Martha Elbourne nee Johns.
That bowlegged, stocky DAUGHTER of TWO WORLDS who raised ME.
For the WOMAN of QUIET FAITH who LOVED US despite the fact HER CHURCH told her how we came to be was SIN.
And for MY KIDS…MY DAUGHTER who didn't get to know her well enough and MY SON who never met her…Your BIG NANA was MORE THAN AMAZING. WORDS barely do her JUSTICE.
And lastly, for EVERYONE who has LOST their GRANDMOTHER…
There was a little girl who bit a princess
For wearing her favourite yellow dress
And the little girl became a young girl
Who danced with the American soldiers
During the war
Sometimes I can see her spinning around
And her laugh is joy
And the young girl became a young lady
Who met a man who swept
Her off her feet and promised her the world
And oh how she believed him
That smooth talking silver tongued devil aye
And the young lady saw her dreams of love
Fade as years go by on the little feet
Of her children
This young lady became a woman
Familiar with the contours of pain
And the taste of tears when
She buried Josephine
When she said goodbye to Betty
When she finally broke the day Freddy
Her baby, her youngest
Got taken away too damn soon
So the woman became an old woman
Who sits in her room looking lost
Wondering at this hurt in her heart
At the nature of the god she
Has served faithfully all her days
And I see her sitting there
And I walk away crying because
Her shoulders are bowed and the laugh lines
Have disappeared from around her eyes
And her eyes can only see her past
And I ask her not to die
Because I need my daughter to know her
And she goes to Lautoka
At this point we know something bad is coming
So we spend our days just trying to be as close to her
As possible, all of us want her to be with us
So she goes to Lautoka where her life began
All those many years ago in another time
And the circle closes.
And we stand in Nasinu crying like
The bereft children we all are
Because…
The little girl who bit a princess left us today…
By Alex Elbourne
Our featured Pasifika poet this week is Alex Elbourne. Alex describes his love for creative writing as a way of using words to turn little things into little worlds and offer these to whomever is willing and say, "Look I MADE THIS."