Rohan Kanhai

Dear Editor,

A poem in honour of Rohan Kanhai’s University of Guyana recognition

recently announced.

 

Mixed into everything else

in his batting–

there was one other absolutely rare

 

element, a flare from

the central fire

which no one can wholly

 

grasp, but which was there,

in him and not others, 

and you felt it

 

as he took the field and

made his walk to the wicket,

a quality that makes

 

excitement grow in the air,        

a feeling that here

is something

 

to see that makes

the game of cricket

more than a sporting contest,   

 

makes it also an art,

an encounter–

with the truth and joy

 

that lies in all supreme

human achievement,

nothing less

 

Sincerely,

Cyril Dabydeen

Ottawa Poet Laureate Emeritus