My Gift

This precious gift God's given me
I've nurtured it so carefully
But this young man so sweet and fair
whispered 'I love yous' in my ear
So disregarding God's command
I lay my gift into his hands ...







I've given of my best before
But that young man walked through the door
This new-found love seems so sincere
Moreover he told me I'm so dear
So yet again my heart he wins
I hand my gift over to him ...

Twice before I have been hurt
Two young men have torn my heart
But this young man treats me so rare
He says I'll be his wife - next year
So another time my gift I bring
And turn my all over to him.

You went low down on bended knees
And spoke the words will you marry me
The pastor sealed our love with vows
But what do I have to give you now
This gift that should have been only yours
I've caused to be misused by others before -



So with dismay I must confess
I'm giving you less than my best!



My Gift © 2012

The poetry appearing on this blog is the exclusive copyright of S.L. Lawrence and should not be copied or reproduced without the explicit written consent of the copyright owner.

Legitimate sales representative jobs

‘Lottery scammer’ is now a de facto legitimate profession in Jamaica and other parts. People from all walks of life make their daily, weekly, monthly, yearly income from making scammer calls to unsuspecting individuals, primarily in the United States, in a bid to extract from them money in exchange for a fictitious lottery prize.

Moral issues aside lottery scamming is not much different from many other seemingly legitimate job positions out there. Lotto scammers operate on the regular 9 to 5. They report to offices, get the job done and receive a pay cheque, albeit with some amount of irregularity in their pay cycle. The more skilled ones make at least a hit a day while the less competent may only ‘eat a food’ once in a while.

In an age when the job market is becoming increasingly inadequate, there is a need to identify niche markets and exploit the opportunities they present. The Jamaican lottery scammers are innovators in their own right. They've recognized the profitability of scamming and have turned it into a modern-day profession.

Some may argue against lottery scamming, for the moral reasons I wish we’d ignore for just a second. Carefully examined, is the lottery scamming profession any different from many other professions? Take, let’s say, sales representatives. Sales reps follow up leads and attempt to sell their products to unsuspecting customers, to whom they promise much greater benefits than the product or service actually offers. They are a class of ‘persuasionists’ that are able to convince a homeless man that he needs to install a security system – never mind there is nowhere to install it. Sales reps often don’t deliver what they promise and customers are, more often than not, left utterly unsatisfied. Lottery scammers are cut from a similar cloth. They convince otherwise sensible (and sometimes not so stable) persons to invest a small quantity of money into the mere possibility of getting a huge cheque in the mail (those devils!).

Yes, moralists, your shouts of disapprobation are audible! However, don’t run before the horse, examine the issue carefully and weigh all angles. What of the thousands of government-paid employees who scam taxpayers everyday by making a show of doing a honest day’s work for a honest day’s pay? Many scammers work much harder than that set. What of the car insurance company that promised you a red umbrella of protection only to leave you out in the rain when you attempted to access your benefits? What of the health and life insurance providers who scam millions of dollars from thousands of people every day without giving their customers anything in return? What of your spouse who promised you a garden of roses but only provided thorns in the desert? What of the million ways that scammers scam under the guise of legitimate professions.

Given the choice between one of those hypocritical professions and lottery scamming, I’ll choose the former any day – I’m no fool and moreover I won’t look cute in prison garb!

'Pickaloo' in Heaven

'Pickaloo' in Heaven

I've never been much of a sentimentalist but I suffered perhaps one of the greatest heartbreaks today when I discovered that our pet pigeon had been devoured overnight by a cat who had somehow gained entry to his cage. What hurt most was the knowledge that my negligence had led to his dismay. 

Pickaloo entered our lives by sheer accident just about four months ago. His family had turned our ceiling into their home one unsuspecting day and ere long the mother had hatched several eggs. We tried several animane (the animal version of humane - right!) means of getting rid of them, to no avail, so we had somewhat resigned ourselves to the excessive chirping and heavy legs annoying us until a permanent solution arose. 

Arriving home from a tiring day at work my mom ran to meet me at the door, filled with excitement. 'We caught a pigeon!' Fresh from the nest, Pickaloo was learning to fly, a bit unsuccessfully and was unable to make his way back to the ceiling. He repeatedly perched on my bedroom window, mid-way to his destination. My mother, observing his plight, got help to capture him.

Pigeon meat tastes wonderful, we were told. In fact just a few weeks before we had received a pigeon, already de-feathered and waiting in the refrigerator to be consumed. We didn't eat Pickaloo - in fact we gave him a name and he provided us entertainment. He birded (pigeon version of wormed) his way into our hearts and became one of the most loved members of our family.

Sadly, he died today. Or rather he was killed. By human error. He died because we all forgot to take the necessary precautions to secure him in his cage overnight. He died because we left him vulnerable to a hungry cat. I cried!

Will animals, like Pickaloo suffer because of human error and miss out on eternity? Will their lives just go down the drain just because humans sinned? Or will they have a place in heaven? I choose to believe that there may be a better place for my Pickaloo and all the animals who have been made to taste death because of humans allowing the entrance of sin into the Earth.