The Legend Of Kaieteur
by A. J. Seymour

(Incredibly, this poem has inspired two classical compositions! One by Philip Pilgrim called The Legend of Kaieteur, and one by Joyce Ferdinand- Lalljie, called Kaie.)

Now Makonaima, the Great Spirit dwelt
In the huge mountain rock that throbbed and felt The swift black waters of Potaro's race
Pause on the lip, commit themselves to space
And dive the half mile to the rocks beneath.
Black were the rocks with sharp and angry teeth And on those rocks the eager waters died,
Above the gorge that seethed and foamed and hissed Rose, resurrected into lovely mist.
The rock He lived in towered a half mile high So that it seemed a rival to the sky
And over it this living mist He drew
To curtain off Divinity from view.
He gave it too the privilege to choose
To take the glory of the rainbow's hues
To wear at morning, and for changed delight The marvelous sunsets of the tropic night. From day to day, behind this rainbowed screen, The Father, the Inscrutable, Unseen,
Would ponder on His domain of the earth

And all the nations He had given birth
And He caused flowers to weave upon the ground Their rich embroideries, and He set around
The village where each tribe worked all day long A veritable tapestry of song
From birds that in the branches built their bowers And spent within the shade quick musical hours, So every wind blew peace and fortune down
From the sweet heavens, and everywhere was sung A song of praise to the Great spirit above
That fathered them in kindliness and love
And every moon each tribe would come and float Upon the stream a sacrificial boat
New-carved and painted, laden with fish and fruit And watch it gain speed as it neared and shoot Over the rock into the gorge below.
And as the waters, so the centuries flow
Until the savage Caribishi came
And put the Patamona to the flame.
They came by night and took them in their sleep Slaughtered the guards and drove away the sheep Ravished the women, burnt their huts and shields, A few, the merest remnant, took to flight
And under shelter of the friendly night Escaped from the pursuing torches sent
To slay them in the caches where they went. These took the terrible tidings of the raid
To the far camp their restless kin had made

On the Potaro that the feud was awake
And counsel what defenses they could make
Old Kaie was chief in counsel. He was wise Over a hundred seasons had those eyes
Seen in their passage. Time had made them dim But with its wisdom compensated him.
He knew the cures for all men's ills and fears And he had words for women in their tears
To comfort them. He sat all day and talked Unto the tribe, for painfully he walked
On legs like rotten trunks wherein chigoes
Had nested and made caves of all his toes
Just now he counseled, "Since our arms are small I and another to the mountain wall
Will go to question Makonaima's will
What He requires that we must fulfill
In sacrificial offerings. He is kind
His orders will chase fear out of our mind."
Then someone murmured "But can Kaie's feet stand The troublesome journey through steep, rocky land?" Flame sprang to Kaie's eyes, "Will you never learn, From what the mind wills, body will not turn?" So the next morning laboured up the slope
Kaie and the one other with their ropes
Strapped round their backs, their bags of magic art With all the stuff that in their spells had part. Kaie's feet oft staggered and the westerning sun

Was swallowed up by night, the day was done Before they came upon the slab of stone
That ends the path to the Great Spirit's home.
Alone.
They stood while the vast starry night was full
Of falling water. Kaie felt him pull
His arm. "Look there," "Yes, Makonaima's birds, They are His messengers, they speak His words, These small black cruiser birds, they fly in flocks
And feed on lana seeds among the rocks.” And now the birds made swoopings round the pair
And chattering, brushed Kaie's cheek and kissed his ear.
Twice, thrice, they did this. Then with sudden flight They wheeled and veered off through the seeing Night.
Then in a voice that swelled and sank and broke
With the great wealth of joy he felt, Kaie spoke "Oh, great is Makonaima and the words
That he has spoken by message of his birds.
I must go down the passage of the river.
That I may sit before His face for ever
In His great house, the everlasting rock.
And He has promised that no harm, no shock Shall bruise our people, for His watch and ward Shall circle us and He shall be our guard.
I am accounted for a sacrifice
For all the tribe. You with your younger eyes

Shall see the offering that you may tell
How boldly Kaie clasped such a death, how well He lost his life to save his threatened race
And shadow them with the eternal peace."
So in the morning, while the dim mist wrestled And the fall thundered and the deep gorge seethed That other sat at vantage by the wall
And scanned the river to the waterfall.
He saw the sun o'er-peep the world and throw
Tide after tide of golden ray and glow
Against the fall, flood full on its attire,
Its misty veil, and catch that mist afire.
Amazed, he stared. The opalescent light Deepened and sank and changed. Then in his sight Below the point that Kaie had bid him mark
He saw Kaie in a sacrificial bark.
The frail boat bobbed and bucked within the grip Of the live waters that hurried it to the lip
Over the abyss. Kaie then raised his tall
Huge bulk in the boat and towered over the fall, A cruciform over the flaming mist.

Then with a force that nothing could resist The boat rent all that misty veil in two, Drawing a dark line down the rainbow hue. But of Kaie's body never showed a trace, He sat with Makonaima, before his face.