Phosphate End

By Maunaa Itala

The Sun sends extra heat.

On the heating sand my pig Is black and skinny and sick.

Her bones are clear to see.

On weak breasts her small ones feed, while on old dry fish bones she gnaws Because all else is gone.

Two fat healthy pigs: White is the one. black is the other, The last milk is gone.

Thinner and thinner her frame grows, They suck even her blood.

Her skeleton shakes.

On blazing sand falls fat, Deep the last breath she takes.

White is the one, black is the other.

Fatter, stronger, more healthier they grow, Happily, strong they go away.

My mother, my mother but a skeleton!

My brothers, my sisters tiny dry bones! • The poem depicts the forthcoming end of the phosphate on Ocean Island, the claims by the Banabans and the Gilbertese — and the British.