JIMMY DREKORE & MARIE-ROSE SAU
An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry
If you can see paradise from the ugly terrain,
Mt Wilhelm is smiling at you, my dear
…I always have seen paradise through the ugliest terrain
Even through the eyes of my dreams...
Then you have the eyes of a queen,
Can you see the empty throne beside Wilhelm?
Through the eyes of the queen in my dream
I can see it clear
That empty chair of royalty,
Seat made of the finest cuscus fur,
Head proudly attired in glorious plumes fit for a king
And guarded by the spirit warriors only my eyes can see
Yes I see that empty throne and it is alluring me into its arms
From your feet stretches a carpet of forest moss
with guard of honour from Wilhelm's finest soldiers
Let the sole of your feet lost in this cosiness
He watches like an impatient groom
I know that groom is impatient
But my desires have always been ancient.
Onto that carpet of forest moss
I long to weep at my silent loss
The soles of my feet are sore with weariness
For I have travelled far from my Simbu paradise...
Oh you fairy-tale queen
Like a butterfly you leap once again
Maybe I am glad that I now can sing
of missing my paradise that I am not singing in vain...
Your song shall sail through the gorges
Like the sound of crystal streams
marrying light and mists
giving birth to rainbow of love
That rainbow of love
Of light and of life
May be the groom and to it, maybe I, his wife.
Upon the sleeping forest between the crest of those gorges
Shall my pride glide
Soaring above the bosom of that paradise in one accord with that rainbow of love
If heaven is for real, you have just brought it to earth
Joy to the earthlings
And praise to the heavens above…