Christmas in Alurio
Pipe, bird, in the tamarind tree.
Pipe, wind, on the azure sea.
Here is the season of Peace on Earth.
Pipe merrily.
Roar, surf, on the outer reef.
Sing, bird, on the plantain leaf.
Here is the Season of Joyous Living!
Have done with grief.
Whiter than snow, the surf rides in.
In the tamarind trees the songs begin.
Out in the tumble of blue upstarts
A flashing fin.
Shout, surf; and pipe, wind;
Though seas are wide, the world is kind.
Joy has a nest in the tamarind tree
For Love to find.
Over the cane-fields breaks the day.
The boats are out in *Martin’s Bay;
Sliding and plunging into the surf,
Seaward to safety they bear away.
The salty sails flap up and fill;
The men at the wet sheets whistle shrill;
The glad wind wrinkles the sea, and leaps
