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
