SAYBAAAAA by. Diane de Mambey
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Oh the good Lord got to thinking
One sunny, blustery day
That he would build a rock pile
Just like a child at play.
He laughed and splashed the water
Then rolled his sleeves up high
And reached into the ocean for rocks a mile high.
And when he’d made a mountain
of rock and sand and stone
He scattered round some grass seed
to make it look like home.
And next he brought the flowers
Then to add a happy note.
He made a rocky animal
and called it a mountain goat.
Then he sat and watched His island
As it grew in beauty’s grace
but he thought there’s something missing
it’s too quiet in this place.
So he thought the whole night through
till the thinking filled his head
Then he grinned and shouted orders
to the goat’s and here’s what he said;
“Say baa, Say baa
Say baa, Say baa”
And the good Lord told the goats,
“Say baaaaaa….” “Say baaaaaa”.
Now if you’d like to go there
to this rock pile in the sea
The goat’s will tell you what it’s called
If you listen carefully
Say baaaaaa.”
Saba Herald, May 24th, 1973
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This poem brought a response from an Anonymous Saban.
Hooome Sweet Hooome
It seems that everybody now
Are writing poems of Saba
I too, will try and rhyme a bit
It doesn’t call for labour
God sure did build a rock pile
And he made our little island
But Sabans speak of it with pride
And defend their rocky highland
We are often called the Saba goats
But they didn’t give Saba its name
And just like other nations
Saba has carried fame.
She’s reared some hardy farmers
Captains, teachers, professors
Of people in every walk of life
She’s been the proud possessor.
We call her “The Rock” its our name of Love
We do so with honest pride
And however dark our future lies
We’ll drift along with the tide.
Don’t cry down Saba, our rocky home
Our mountains, seas and foam
For even though the goats say baaaa
Doves answer “Hoooome sweet Hoooome”.
Saba Herald, June 24th, 1973
The Saba Islander 