Last Lines by Pamela Mordecai

I love this poem, Last Lines, by Pamela Mordecai. The poem speaks to personal responsibility, the limits of engagement and perhaps karma. What's your reaction to Last Lines?

Last Lines

This is the last line I draw.
Alright. Draw the last line.
But I tell you, yonder
is a next. No line ever last,
no death not forever.
You see this place? You see it?
All of it? Watch it good.
Not a jot nor a tittle
going lost. Every old
twist-up man you see,
every hang-breast woman,
every bang-belly pickney.
every young warrior
who head wrench
with weed, white powder,
black powder, or indeed
the very vile persuasion
of the devil - for him not
bedridden you know --
every small gal-turn woman
that you crucify on the
cross of your sex
before her little naseberry
start sweeten,
I swear to you,
every last one shall live.
Draw therefore, O governor,
prime minister, parson,
teacher, shopkeeper,
politician, lecturer,

resonant revolutionaries,
draw carefully
that last fine line
of your responsibility.

From the Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse. (edited by Stewart Brown & Mark McWatt). 2005

Copyright Pam Mordecai 2005.

Reprinted with author's permission.