On Saturday 29th October 2016 my Ex wife Mona George-Dill passed away, it is a very sad time for me, Mona and I had a very unique relationship, after our divorce we remained very close friends.
Mona is the reason why I am now living in Dominica, I met Mona when she was a student at CAST in Jamaica, before we got married we exchanged multiple volumes of letters and poems trying to dissect each other’s philosophies of life.
The following poem was my response to a letter she wrote to me in 1981.
O Woman O woman
You whom life conceived a creature of circumstance
Trapped within the boundaries of here and now,
Confused, abused cheated, mistreated
Crowned with tears, mothered by sorrows too great to mention
O woman O woman
Daughter of noble ideals
Weaned upon the milk of misfortune
Regretting yesterday’s sorrows
Fearing tomorrow’s uncertainties
Yet harboring no hatred
Within your noble heart
O woman O woman
Sustained by faith and prudence
Seeking answers, asking questions
While time marches on.
Children you have borne
Love you have known
Virtues you have acquired
From the wounds inflicted within your breast
Much of you have died
Still a greater you lives on
O woman O woman
Will you not let the living live
And the dead remain dead
It is well O Woman
To live within the bounds of prudence
But should prudence separate you – from
That of you which is truly woman
O Woman O woman
Cheated, conquered, deceived
But never defeated
Emerging forgiving and undefiled
Replenished by time
Strengthened by your love for justice
Set aglow by the fire of “Diving Springtime”
You move ever onwards
O woman O woman
Endowed with love and life
To give, to share, to laugh, to rejoice
With soul of beauty and heart of purity
Like a shining star you walk – a woman among women
Veil no yourself I entreat you O woman
From the victories you have won
Some were born to fail
Some were born to die
You O woman, was born to live, to win!
O woman O woman
Arise, let laughter flow
Where your tears have fallen
Let tomorrow’s visions keep your spirits high
O woman beautiful woman
Seeking sustenance from the well of self
Have you not often found it dry?
O woman O woman
So fair so wise
Darken not your own horizons
With fears and doubts
With solid steps beneath your feet
And the Fire of love blazing within your eyes
Step forward to claim your rightful place
Beneath the sun
O woman O woman
Faithful woman
Receptacle of affections
Quiescent within an uncertain heart
You like a daffodil I see
Flowering beneath the shade
Loving the light you see
But remaining untouched
By its golden rays
O woman O woman
Poet, confidant, friend
In confluence devoid of self
We walk together
You seeking to guide me upon the path you envision for me
While I seek to break the chains that bind the woman
The poet sings, the confidant listens
But the woman sleeps
O Woman O woman
Friend of my soul
Walking down the highway of life
Confronted by an ocean
Of endless indecisions, you waver
Like a candle in the wind
O woman O woman
You who have sacrificed the passions of self
For love, for life, for purity
Ascending from the mire of calamity
Stainless and free
It is time to cast your fears upon the wind
Prudence has played its part
Felicity is knocking upon the door of your heart
Life is ready to make a new start
O woman O woman
Written to me by Mona
THOUGHTS OF YOU
Sweeter than honey
Warmer than the morning’s sun-burst
Gentler than a zephyr
Mysterious as the rhythm of ocean waves
Strong as the force of nature
Is a condensation of nature’s gifts
It is the sorcery of nature
Which makes you nature
It makes me nature
It makes us both nature
So we are one
You give me you
But it is I you give me
I give you me
But it is you I give you
We are parts of each other, my love
Separated by bounds as unfathomable
As the bonds which bind us
Mona George
Jamaica 1981
