I think the photograph you see inside this column is one of the greatest photographs ever taken by a Belizean. It was published in 1975 on page 57 of FEELINGS, which was my last serious attempt at creative writing. 

The photo was taken by the one Philip Lewis, who used to work at the Lands and Surveys Department and was a member of my uncle’s cycling team in the middle/late 1960s. Philip may have finished as high as fourth in a Cross Country.

Sometime in the 1970s Philip organized and led a serious, quality creative group known as SOUL TO ART. Philip also wrote an outstanding poem, which I believe was entitled: “I see a new Belize.” But, I would say his greatest talent lay in photography. By the way, we used cameras in those days, not telephones.

There were several Philip Lewis photos which were included in FEELINGS. I feel ashamed to say that I can’t find where he was named as the photographer and given his proper credit. Incidentally, at the time the booklet was published, Sandra Coye and I were on good terms, and she wrote the Preface to FEELINGS. Respect.

The photo is of an old man, in his seventies, maybe even his eighties, and he is in the stern of his dory, head down, digging deep in the river with his paddle and obviously focused on taking the dory’s cargo to its destination. In the front part of the dory is a child who I would presume is the old man’s grandson, whose resemblance to my late and beloved first cousin, Mark Hyde, always struck me as uncanny, and the child has his paddle raised in action, but it is clear that he is totally distracted by something — a bird, a fish, a monkey, perhaps even an alligator? The photo, without words, tells the story of different generations — in the same boat.  

At the time, this photo inspired me to write a poem to accompany it, but I’m not sure the poem is in the quality category of the photo, so I won’t reproduce it here.

I’ve lost contact with Philip for decades. The last I heard he was in Geneva, Switzerland, and we may have e-mailed a couple times, but I’m not sure. I know that he has not been responding to messages sent to that mail address for many years, and all I know is someone said he may be in Trinidad.

When I think of Philip’s departure/exile from Belize, I am minded of the lamentable departure/exile from Belize of the late, great Bob Reneau, who was still in his creative prime when he flew to Chicago and never returned home. Respect to his son, Norman, who stood strong with UBAD in the early 1970s before he went to the City of Angels. 

Philip Lewis’ photo struck a personal chord with me, because my maternal grandfather, Wilfred “Papa Bill” Belisle, and I had been very close until my parents moved from Church Street to West Canal Street in 1954. My grandfather took me as a child on at least three fishing trips, just he and I, just like this old man and the boy in the photo, and I remember how special my grandfather made me feel.

In the 1950s, the weather patterns in Belize were such that if the wind blew from the land in the night and early morning, from the west, then it would fall totally calm between maybe 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 in the afternoon. After that, the southeaster would come in fresh and strong, and the fish would be hungry and looking to feed. On one such afternoon, my grandfather took me trolling, and the catch was stunning. I would have been maybe 6 or 7.

In October of 1957, when I was 10, my grandfather borrowed my father’s sailboat, CHRISTINE, and went to Spanish Caye, nine miles south of Belize City, to spend time on his lonesome. Belize was a very safe place in those colonial days, and nobody in the family worried about his personal excursion. Relatives fishing in the area saw CHRISTINE half sunk in front of the caye, and realized something must be very wrong. My grandfather had been dead for days, and his body was badly decomposed. He was only 62.

This is one of the reasons Philip Lewis’ photo does things to me. The old man in his photo is my grandfather, and the child is me. If this column serves to assist in any way to link me with Philip, it will have done its job. I understand how native Belizeans can give up on Belize. I’ve felt that way myself many times. Many times.