Heart of the Prize

Turn east your eyes, oér the brimming blue of mountains And see the morning sky serving feast of fervent gold And through the hills climbing a heart like festive fountains A man with tattered trousers, shirt stained and hat old Down this man's shoulder a bag of palmetto leaves now hangs Two cassava bread and a piece of roasted fish, an empty cup And with purpose he rises; cross jagged rocks baring fangs He makes his ascent to till the stony plot, always going up Man's heart a iron clad determination, a firm defiance Of withering times and adversity, he faces the sunrise Bowing only to the majesty of his unseen God in compliance And bushes drip from dew tippped lip in sweet compromise And when the harsh months of gold turned brightly white Are past, and trees cast leaves that break the shadows heart The man climbs down, his sack harvest laden, until the night Brings him back homeward, to share glory where he had start And in the worlds beyond a trillion suns as twinkling stars Serenade the journey upward, and applaud, for earth is where We all belong, in the white foam that crashes on the bars And send sprays of dreams like rainbows flying, into quiet air. So we beholding gold, upward climb from sweat to glory Life rugged at our feet, but country like flagpole lifted Raise empty cup for blessings, and content of green history In which we sing and share Jamaica's harvest love gifted.