FOR BOB MARLEY

JOHN AGARD

FOR BOB MARLEY

Dreadlocks gone

from I an I crown of glory
and what to be got to be
 
yet nobody believe Marley dying
no woman no cry crying
out from the sound system of a heart
Who Jah bless no man curse
bu’ the cancer getting worse

cutting off of locks

a necessary condition
for treating the tumour of the brain
Him lion mane shorn like a lamb
Him born again
walking through the valley of the shadow of

pain

yet nobody believe Marley dying

nobody believe the reggae rainbow
flying home to Zion
without him dreadlocked halo
 
We all know
Babylon is one
to cut off Rasta hair
and throw Rasta in prison

But this time doctor say

for treatment to work
dreadlocks must go
strange the ways of Babylon
stranger still the ways of Jah

yet nobody believe Marley dying

dying of cancer in Miami

He who touch no pork

no junk food whether in London or New York
believed only in the natural
I-tal vital
ate of fresh herbs of the field
as laid down by the Good Book
on tours always taking his own cook
He left bodyguards to politicians
touching no nicotine
partaking only of the holy weed
which the press
say was taken to excess
but which Marley I’m sure
would say is the key to the inner door
the holy herb
filling his mind with the holy word
and the flight of doves
at peace in the shadow of Solomon
Got to have kaya

Strange the ways of Babylon

Now herbless and locksless
this child of Jah in the wilderness
of a malignant growth
yet nobody believe Marley dying
dying of cancer in Miami
it can’t be it can’t be
shout it out from Trenchtown to Zimbabwe
shake the cornerstone of the Cedars of Lebanon
it can’t be   no   not Marley

But in the grounation of a mother grief

one woman hold her head and cry
one woman Cedella Booker mother of Bob
hear her earthwise heart whisper
one bright morning when my work is over
and deep down she know the time come
cause Jah giveth and Jah taketh
and holding her son locksless head
she reads his favourite psalm
to help him home
 
   ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
     He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
     He leadeth me beside the still waters…’
 
And from the logwood burning love
of her womanheart
black womanhurt inward yearning
Rita Marley I-rie queen
watches the fiery red god and green
Drifting to galaxies
beyond West Kingston
Fly away home to Zion

but thoughts of distant planets

don’t make her forget
the sound of bullets
the violence in the streets
the attempts on Marley life
by shootdown hit-and-run
Trenchtown thug politics
and caressing the star of his head
she misses them locks
natty dread natty dread
that often touched her as they lay loving
and to herself she make a vow
not to send Bob
locksless to his Zion

to the shorn lamb

she shall return him lion mane
she shall see that in his casket
his face is draped
with rays of sun
him antennae of salvation
picking up positive vibration
in his casket
I and I crown of locks
the Bible in one hand
his guitar in the other
like gifts from an ancient Egyptian queen
sending her loved on home to Ra
sending her loved on home to Jah

    Everything going to be allright

    everything going to be allright
    no woman no cry
    Marley don’t need death
    to make a exodus to history
    Marley don’t need politician
    to deem him honourable
    Marley would hate a tearful elegy

    so let this poem be a spliff

    and from the heart of Harlem let a riff
    of tribute curl skyward 
    Let Stevie Wonder in his rainbow darkness
    masterblast your song of praise
    to the secret ears of plants
    from the ground of Zimbabwe
    let freedom song resound
    and see the children dance
    O see the children dance
    forget your sorrow and dance
    Let the nyabingi drums chant
    a celebration of positive vibration
    Let Cedella take a gospel song
    and with a mother tender care
    nurse it to a breath of reggae
    Let the I-threes incense the sky
    with riddims of blessings
    Little darling please don’t shed no tears

    and see the children dance

    forget your trouble and dance
 
cause today is a day beyond mouring
today the sun is a mane of flame
raining a plea to mankind

    one love
    one heart

Listen those of you who have ears to hear

Listen those of you who have ears to hear.