There is Fear in the Islands

EDITORIAL COMMENT By: Leonard Francis Gill

This poem is printed here in its full unedited version. It was published in a Seychelles newspaper, but in an edited form. We at LAVWA believe that we Seselwa Rasin have a right to see the full unedited version of this powerful poem and to make our own independent judgments about its message and its poetry. 

We Seselwa Rasin can also now compare this version to the edited version, and see for ourselves which parts of the poem where edited. With this knowledge, we can reach our own conclusions why the poem was edited by the newspaper that published the edited version.

There Is Fear In The Islands (Unedited Version)

By: Anonymous Author

There is a quaking of fear in the Islands.

There is much lying awake without sleep.

The Reckoning Day is a-coming

Leaving no hole through which to escape.

Not fear in the hearts of the good men,

Though they fear for their families too,

It is men who are red-stained with evil

Who fear what they cannot undo.

A rumble so deep, it can barely be heard,

Stirs all souls with an unfathomed dread -

A feeling that something is coming

Without knowing what lies ahead.

The Old Man has no fear any more,

For he knows that his time is near done.

Beyond the cold grave they can’t touch him.

He has already had all of his fun.

It is his henchmen who ooze a cold sweat,

Who with trembling hands are afraid,

For they know they will soon face their judgement

Through the voice of all those they betrayed.

The dark veil which covered these islands

Has been pierced by a burning desire

To light up the torch of tomorrow

With righteousness’ all-cleansing fire.

And a beast stirs each morning at day-break

As in hunger it rumbles and growls;

Its throat does not thirst for injustice.

‘Tis for blood of the unjust it howls.

So sleep on little child of my islands.

For the noises outside do not weep.

If your mother and father have good in their hearts,

You from all harm they will keep.

But Evil has nourished this beast

And fed it with un-avenged wrong.

So powerful has it now grown,

That it cannot be kept chained for long.

The Beast was not pent up by good men

And now strains at its bonds to be free,

For unjust men do make brutal masters

And it now is their own enemy.

For the forces of evil grow stronger

Until they cannot be restrained,

Yet if loosed but once into daylight

All their power to frighten is drained.

Tomorrow’s bright dawn is a-breaking,

Casting light upon all things to see.

Soon the just will awaken unfettered,

With the courage of good men set free.

Just as sin cannot thrive forever,

However deep set are its roots,

So the nest of the viper must be destroyed,

crushed by the heel of society’s boots.

And the vile beast that once held dominion

Will give vigour to those who were prey,

Will turn its foul wickedness backwards

Its own evil creators to slay.

Now is the time for amendment,

To make our islands the place they should be,

To sweep away fear and corruption

And replace them with true harmony.

So you who have played for three decades,

Whose party has now come to an end,

You know the crimes of which you are guilty,

So do not innocence try to pretend

It is the lives that you took from your brothers

And the farms from your country’s good men,

The virtue from your nation’s young maidens,

And the hopes from our own dear children.

These are the crimes you committed.

You have already had more than your share.

By your own greed you’ve now been outwitted,

So do not say that your fate is unfair.

The time is upon us where we must chose

And when many hard things must be braved,

To ensure, for all time, that our Seychelles

Will never again be enslaved.

Be sure the young children remember

The things that their parents endured

And never again let evil take root,

So the fear in the islands is cured.