How many lives were lost?
The ground bled red
With innocent blood
Slave masters, governors even king and queens
Orchestrating mass murder in their serene scenes
Imagine a mother,
wife and daughter’s cries of pain and frustration
Over bloody wars fought for the freedom of a nation
But not just on the battlefield politically as well
The appearance of this land epitomises hell
so the urge to progress independently
and become a country that can stand on its own
I speak critically for those who died before me
Their injustice were never told only
Because of an unimaginable tyranny
Trying to take one people’s hope to be free
I can never know
How many lives were lost?
The ground bled red
With innocent blood
I refuse to shun
The unimaginable truth
That whilst innocent people where being slaughtered
It made the wicked more financially supported
National heroes tried to defy this
And some executed in the process:
Samuel Sharpe, George William Gordon and Paul Bogle
All were men born in slavery and are notably noble
Who contributed to its abolishment as a whole
Where their stories and their role will forever be known
Den ova to de wuman, de Obeah wuman known as Nanny,
She herself freed over 800 slaves
her ferocious Maroons, feared by the British for what they displayed
they were untamed lions strong as
whilst Marcus Garvey renown as he fought to outline
The abuse of Africans at the time
Norman Manley and Sir Alexander Bustamente
Involved in the struggle against colonial rule
Fought using their political tools
Took advantage of an empire going downhill
U see dem yout mi a talk bout
Mi av’ nuf respect fi dem cause
fe dem role in a de liberation of a country
that belongs to me
I will never know
How many lives were lost?
That turned the ground red
With innocent blood
Can warfare be used to release the oppressed into peace?
This dilemma we discuss on the news and the street
But the truth I believe is not in what we perceive
but in what we do
Like heroes in
By Tajhame 'TJ" Jackson a poet, playwright and actor
Tajhame spent his childhood in Kingston, Jamaica until the age of 9 when he moved to North London. This poem was inspired by Jamaican history and his experiences there.
A clip of TJ performing this poem will appear on the blog soon!
