A devastated cousin of Matthew Clarke has penned a heartfelt poem asking: "Can we please just get our Bermuda back?"

Keisha Clarke, who will be burying the father-of-two today after he was killed last week, is calling for an end to the violence which has seen so many young men lose their lives in recent months.

She said that while her family is reeling from Mr. Clarke's death, her poem is for everyone who has suffered the loss of loved ones like Aquil Richardson, Shaki Crockwell, Marcus Gibbings, Jason Lightbourne and Shaundae Jones.

Her thoughts have been echoed by the Family Centre, which yesterday issued a statement voicing "extreme concern" over the number of violent tragedies that have plagued the Island. The group's executive director Martha Dismont called for people to unite with the same urgency they show in the face of a hurricane.

Miss Clarke's poem, titled Bermuda Is Another World, has been circulating the Island by e-mail, with the message: "Please pass it on — we have to take back our Bermuda."

She told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "I wrote it because of what's happened, but this is something that has been happening for a while."

Explaining that she wrote the poem "from the heart", she added: "I write when I'm frustrated. It took me about five minutes. It's time though. It's time for stuff to be done. Something needs to be done."

Mr. Clarke, 31, a songwriter and producer, was found by his fiancée Charlitta Spencer in his home at North Shore Road, Pembroke, on Wednesday last week.

Three people have been arrested and charged with murder: Shannon Tucker, 32, from Southampton; Vernon Simons, 23, from Pembroke; and Kyle Sousa, 17, from Warwick.

The funeral takes place at 2 p.m. at St. Paul's AME Church, Court Street. Mr. Clarke's older brother Michael has previously said he hoped people would show up in numbers to give the victim the send-off he would have wanted. Family Centre executive director Martha Dismont said of Mr. Clarke's death: "Everyone connected to this tragedy needs our care and support at this time.

"If we ask ourselves, 'what is it going to take to stop the violence and the hurting?' we must remember that people distance themselves from the humanity of others when they themselves are in pain.

"We must get radical to stop all of the hurting in our community or it will continue and worsen.

"We cannot hide it, throw money at it, nor pretend that it will go away tomorrow.

"These are our sisters, our brothers, uncles, aunties, fathers and mothers. If we heard that a powerful hurricane was about to hit our island, we would prepare.

'"We would ignore the barriers that separate us and come together. We would work together to prepare for, and battle the storm as one.

"We must unite with the same urgency to face the hurricane of violence that we are seeing swell throughout the community of our young people."

She said Bermuda was now "reaping what has been sown over at least the past two decades".

She added: "We must take care of our wounded, and we must begin to take better care of those who would be heading down the same path today.

"There is no short cut to nurturing young people as they grow. We must double or triple the investment of our time, support, and care for the generation of young ones that we are responsible for if we want to reverse this pattern of pain.

"The thing that protects children from destructive influences like drugs, crime, gangs, and violence is love and the positive attention of nurturing adults in their lives.

"Young people gamble it all because they believe they have nothing to lose.

"When a young person values the meaningful relationships that they have with family, teachers and neighbours, they have something priceless to lose and they will protect fiercely.

"In our Island home, the difference between those children who do well and those children who do not is usually determined by the amount of sincere care, time, and relationship that they have to come home to.

"This is the anchor that they rely on as they make choices in school, with friends, and then as they branch out into the community and onto the roads as young adults.

"We are here to represent this message. Our message is that all solutions to our social problems must start with compassion for the unmet needs of our young.

"When we start by making the choice to be attentive to our children's needs and then thoughtful as we interact with them, we will find the solutions that make them our partners in building the future.

"This is a responsibility that each of us must consider and then dig deep to practice. It has been, and will be, the only thing that saves them."

BERMUDA IS ANOTHER WORLD

By Keisha Clarke

Bermuda used to be called another world

All you heard was the playing of little boys and girls

The traffic wasn't really bad at all

Childhood years, didn't we have a ball?

What happen to that Bermuda we knew?

The girls wore pink and the boys wear blue

Little bows in our hair everyday

Our parents kissed us and said it'll be OK

When being intelligent gave you pride

If you had low scores you would try to hide

We use to keep ourselves looking so neat

From the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet

The Bermuda today is nothing like that

Boys walking around with baseball bats

Young children laughing because they failed a test

Parents today can't even get any rest

Being intelligent is not the in thing anymore

You usually get teased, or be called a bore

Having sex without even knowing the facts

Girls walking round with no self respect

They talk to their parents as if they are their peers

The constant guidance they don't want to hear

They want everything from clothes to cash

But they won't even help take out the trash

To be a thug is what's really up

Come on people this needs to stop

What do we do, what can we say

To help to change this mentality today?

Young men not even scared to take a life

Using machetes and sometimes a knife

It's so sad but it's respect they lack

Can we please just get our Bermuda back?