Tag: Jamaica

“Going Back Home” – Pt. 3a: Dining to the tune of ‘Auld Lang Syne’

      As the new year washed over me and rolled on by to February, it left the refrain of the traditional New Year’s chorus ‘Auld lang syne’ replaying on the shores of my mind.  I looked up the words and was compelled by them to follow where their inspiration led me in the completion of processing my experiences of re-connecting with friends during my recent visit back home to Jamaica.

My interpretation of the Scots-language poem ‘Auld lang syne’, written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song ‘Roud’, reads thus: Continue reading ““Going Back Home” – Pt. 3a: Dining to the tune of ‘Auld Lang Syne’”

Lights are for Shining!

     As my eyes glanced over the Christmas curios on the shelf in Hobby Lobby, I reminded myself, “Only stuff of the true Christmas”.  It has become my safeguard against the wanton spending I am tempted to engage in at this time of year.

1200px-Christmas-2874137_1920     I rehearsed under my breath as I browsed: “The nativity scene—Mary, Joseph, the Christ-child, angels, shepherds, animals; bells to proclaim His birth ; silver and gold for The King; evergreen for the eternal life His incarnation would provide; red—poinsettias, bows and ribbons—for the blood He would shed; ribbons—His cords of loving-kindness reaching out through the Gospel to draw us to Himself in saving grace… out of darkness into light…always light… Oh! Stars!” Continue reading “Lights are for Shining!”

“Going Back Home” – Pt. 2: ‘Unpacking the Baggage’

‘Sight-seeing’ in the land of your birth, as a visiting migrant, is a whole different ball-game. Every little thing becomes infused with significance — every bus stop, corner or fence a landmark; every tree, every flower, every fruit an event to re-live, an incident to memorialize…

      ‘Sight-seeing’ in the land of your birth, as a visiting migrant, is a whole different ball-game. Every little thing becomes infused with significance — every bus stop, corner or fence a landmark; every tree, every flower, every fruit an event to re-live, an incident to memorialize. The blue of the sky, the green of the hills and the white of the limestone scar in the Rockfort hillside: everything, ordinary or especial, comes at you fresh-laden with meaning they did not originally pack Continue reading ““Going Back Home” – Pt. 2: ‘Unpacking the Baggage’”

“Going Back Home” – Pt. 1: Why you can’t ‘Just Do It’

I promised in early August to do a weekly post chronicling highlights of my trip home to Jamaica, taken at the end of July 2018, BUT I forgot to add ‘Deo Volente’ (God Willing)! Well, life happened, as they say, complicated by schedule-altering transitions. Nonetheless, here at last: “Going Back Home” (in four parts); ‘Deo Volente’ Continue reading ““Going Back Home” – Pt. 1: Why you can’t ‘Just Do It’”