THE SILK COTTON TREE
THE SILK COTTON TREE Guyanese Folklore Harry Bissoon 3/06/2026 Majestic, strong, it stood. With arms spread wide. Unshaken by vagaries of weather, covered in folklore, Imagination flowing in rushes of tide. Fearful in night, homage paid in mysterious rites, Children, even those of age, frozen in shivers, flee in flight. Black fowl, white rum and cheese, cigarettes too, Its huge trunk welcomes it. Dutch man appeased, Buried deep beneath, to favor seek in solemn rite. Him, a Dutch man, rides on white stallion, in the dark night. Fire at night, from the trunk it rises. Not seen in day, terrified to verify, a labor of fear, surfaces. Steeped in folklore, Grandpa swears, not a myth. Enriched nevertheless, life moves with haste, stories abound, forthwith.