Barbados Postage Stamps Speaking Volumes - Part III

(in Ballad Meter)

With texture of a marshmallow,
The rock sat in Barrow;
Proudly wrapped in Broken Trident;
The Union Jack silent.
A bold shift in Bajan postage;
The royal head abridge;
When Queen Elizabeth gave back,
With great poise, and great tact.

This rock, her ancestors sliced up;
Lapping royal tea-cup;
In sixteen twenty five.
Each slice on human rights deprive;
More than three hundred years preserved;
Before new Queen observed;
Her reign brings to Bajans new hope,
And a new skipping rope.



Each postage stamp bears Bajan craft;
Drives postal photograph;
With themes, and scenes of our land;
Sir Garry from Bayland;
Cricketer from Police Sports Club;
Queen Elizabeth dubbed;
Sir Garfield Sobers on the field;
Greatest all-rounder kneeled.

Bajan's living legend knighted;
Captaincy accepted;
Sir Frank Worrell was his mentor;
His batting caused uproar
That pleased, huge crowds around the ground
Joy round him did surround
Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers.
Collie Smith, he ponders...

Traumatic time indeed for him;
Drinking tears kept him slim;
Hits six sixes in one over;
Pleasing crowds, moreover,
On six consecutive balls in cricket,
From powerful wicket;
Seeing on postage Sir Gary;
Hones, cricket mastery.

In my head now, October nine;
This thought floods brain of mine;
The anniversary, Tony!
With strong roots universally;
In eighteen sixty four,
This much I do recall and more;
The arrival of World Post Day
I's today; so they say.

Reflecting now on UPU
Headquarters for mail crew,
Of the Universal Postal,
A problem-solving hull;
A Union, we take for granted,
And benefits charted;
The UPU in many ways;
Hugs Bajan postal trays.

With pride and appreciation;
We in this small nation;
Celebrate World Post Day with hearts
In Bern's postal ramparts;
Of Swiss' Confidence they instill;
In our postal mill;
Impacting all living beings
For WNS postings.

© Paterika Hengreaves
October 9, 2011/Barbados

Working on Part IV
Please check back later

Barbados Postage Stamps Speaking Volumes - Part II

(In Ballad Meter)

Interestingly enough this;
This postage stamp depicts
Britannia, Roman goddess,
On postage face impress.
What are the images you see?
Neptune god of the sea;
Which Britannia personified;
The Romans canonized.

Britannia the old fashion
Name, poured on Great Britain;
Female personification;
Of the island Britain;
Like Neptune she holds a trident;
Three prongs are evident.
Neptune rode waves with seahorses;
Well Britannia does.

For crying out loud here this thing;
On Barbados acting
Like she is, Great Britain's England;
Wears tag, "Little England".
Barbados stamps from the outset;
Mirrored England's stamp set;
Postage stamps icons during the,
Victorian era.

Look at postage stamp one farthing;

Give credence and backing;

Much more is on this postage plate;

So let's reiterate;

Barbados story of money,

Few words stated mintly;

Three and a half centuries ago,

Crown's grip on it did show.

Pounds shillings and pence, changeable;

British money table;

Four farthings, one penny it is;

Twelve pence one shilling,Chris.

Imagery on the stamps does say;

Victoria holds sway;

Eighteen thirty-seven young queen;

On the throne at eighteen.

What are the two pees worth today?
Such reckoning would say
In Barbados money, six cents;
Inflation dents the fence.
Imperialist's grip on Bimshire
Postage stamps, front and rear;
Dubbed Barbados Britannias
Seen on mail at Christmas.

These Britannias had much themes:
Sea, land, air, and dog scenes
Celebrations, and so much more;
Seen in each stamp photo;
Look at Britannias below,
And see how those themes glow;
In this postage stamp gallery;
Compiled for you gladly.



Did these Bajan Britannias

Suffer asthenias?
No way, they had power to stir
The colonial air;
Feeding the lungs of royalty,
And their entrenched army,
The largest Empire on earth;
With glory and self-worth.

Two centuries these British knaves
Britannia, ruled the waves;
Politics play on sticky squares;
Land owners billionaires;
Hindsight sees the bad and the good;
Sherwood housed Robin Hood;
Empire and George VI would die;
His daughter is not shy.

In the year nineteen sixty-six,
Elizabeth did fix
Imperial wrongs, she addressed;
Her Commonwealth cleaned mess;
Bajan Brittanias lost mark;
Independence stamps spark;
Britain no longer holds this rock;
Forty-five years we lock.

Barbados Postage Stamps Speaking Volumes - Part I

(In Ballad Meter)

Barbados postage stamps for you;

Plenty facts stuck with glue;

These sticky little squares do show;

Monarchy you should know;

What rates for the weights they must hold,

On papers  new or old?

Postage stamps do tell true stories;

Not of Whigs and Tories.

Revenue for the government;

Stamps legal document;

We make love to those sticky squares;

With kisses; glue adheres;

Queen Victoria days of yore;

Penny Post at the door;

World's first known postmark who carved it?

Henry Bishop made it.

Who gave us the adhesive stamp?

Was Rowland Hill, the champ;

Barbados postage stamps left clues;

On kings and queens infuse;

On this half penny stamp of green;

Historical facts  seen;

A crown that floats above a head;

What message does it spread?

During Victorian era,
He wore a crown never;
A consort he was her husband
She proposed to this man
Strong woman would made that occur
He said yes, yes after
Acrostics she did; he liked chess
They both played with success.

Queen Victoria on the throne
Morality enthroned
To such a far flung colony;
Barbados, so tiny;
Growing sugarcane island's crop;
And slaves working non-stop;

No wage, in pounds shillings and pence;

Worked the fields; heat intense.

Cutting  sugarcane for dray carts;

Fed  the mills, poor, poor, hearts!

Bedchamber crisis at Palace;

Peel resigned from office.



More to come. Check back later. Thank you.

Rhyme Scheme for the National Anthem of the USA

The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key 1814

Stanza 1                                                                   Rhyme Scheme

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light                                a
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?               b
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,           a
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?          b
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,                    c
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.              c
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave                         d
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?                    d

Stanza 2

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,                e
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,                     f
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,                    e
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?                              f
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,                     g
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:                               g
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave                       D
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!                      D

Stanza 3

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore                          c
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,                          h
A home and a country should leave us no more!                           c
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.             h
No refuge could save the hireling and slave                                  d
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:                      d
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave                    D
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!                     D


Stanza 4

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand                             i
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!                   h
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land          i
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.        h
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,                        j
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."                               j
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave                   D
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!                  D


Someone on this blog asked: What is the rhyme scheme of "The Star Spangled Banner"? So here it is. The capital letters in the Rhyme Scheme indicate repeated rhymes.

ab ab cc dd      ef ef gg DD      ch  ch dd DD      ih ih jj DD

Autumn Haiku

Happy Autumn trends
Many leaves are falling now
This silly season

© Paterika Hengreaves

Read more: Avian Christmas Dish Wish

Ode to Poetry

(Modern American Ode)

Since poetry is the food of the senses
Cart me loads of wholesome flesh,
Beneath skin and on the bone;
Like a flamingo, I take my time to pick,
And eat with delightful intensity,
Savory slices of great poetry.

With beak-like quills
Of granite, flint and stone,
In jaws ever clinching,
Opening ready to unwind;
Flinging words, like flying feathers,
Each crafted thought
Cascading down,
With riddled and sensuous thrills;
Those myriads of cognitive sparks,
Lighting up the mind.

Oh give me poetry to make me grow;
A little fat and a bit of this, and that;
Succulent slices of great poetry;
Poetic ancestors boldly left behind.

© Paterika Hengreaves

Ode to Sweet Revenge - Ground Zero Never

He is cleaning the House; they want it done with lightning speed
Such a measure was not required of former Potuses
Different benchmark and strokes they demand of President Barack
Doesn't matter what Obama does; cold water poured on his back
Blackberries they vowed to weed out from among their bushes
For bush tea, they do say has given them strong Constitution
Forget the two wars with hidden goals that tanked their economy;
Have no axe to grind, don't live in your land but strain the pulp from facts
You serve through space, on special interest buffet plates
From afar, vision clear with a mind that gets at the core of the bones;
Findings shared with blood relatives born and bred Americans
So here the beef feeding my head on a tropical island
Let me tell you folks with forgetful and selected memories
Some of the startling facts truthful hearts dear not deny.

Having pledged to get that bastard "dead or alive" failed; why?
The economy tanked as Wall Street mixes steel with play-dough
Fat cats hold tight their money and loot; Madoff’s clans no longer glow
Dirt in the laundry reaching sky high;
Washing machine agitates on wiki leaks assault
And by George! Two full terms served
In that great mansion in Washington
Rejoined family fortunes in southern Texas far from Wilmington
Leaving the dinner table with heaps of left-overs
For Maison Blanche newest tenant
The first black President rode into Washington
With dreams like Martin Luther King
More mess to clean than by-gone slaves, ever had in deep south;
President Barack Obama must start from scratch, scratching his back
They wail when he takes vacation rest even though his backpack
Is filled with what must be done to put people back to work
Amid deficit, tornadoes, hurricanes and the downgrade
Education and plenty schools with dropouts with no stock and trade
A working vacation is all the luxury he has ever had.

My gawd, he is your elected President for blacks, whites,
And all the colors in between;
Let no class, gender biases, or creed divide
The democratic plank you hold so true
Acknowledge he got handed a heavy loaded "to do list"
Much more than others before
The world watches on and wonders at your lack of rapport:
Why the tea-party serves him rock cakes with rubbart
And slapping him down with their mischievous narratives
Failing to grasp that the President strives for initiatives
And compromise across the aisle on policies
Beneficial for growing their economy and jobs
For the rich and poor alike; while keeping Star Spangled
Relevant to international eyes;
The mess handed him needs Clorox and surgical knives;
With everyone willing to pay to Uncle Sam honest tithes...

Bin Laden at large hiding for a decade in a Packed enclave
That feeds this beast at the expense of the Stars and Spangled
The first black President vexed as hell without much fuss and cuss
Pledge on his entry to the White House that he would capture him
That man, the master mind of Ground Zero’s mayhem.
The throng not privy to the command to act, when he called on
His loyal and fearless Seals anon

President Barack Obama delivered on his pledge where others failed
In a manner that so well fitted his evil mind and six-foot limb;
Tearing apart limb by limb, for crimes against humanity;
They blasted his head off, in the dim
For God is good, in Him we trust His firm resolve,
Osama bin Laden loaded with lead a celebratory tragedy
Now in deed sleep in the Arabian Sea
To grow scales with his fish
Such sweet revenge all of US all along, did wish
On this tenth anniversary of Ground Zero
Heroes among the dead patiently waited for this;

Terror plants beware! The Spangled eyes will forever
Keep watch over your inhuman maneuver
And with all the Star Spangled might, will keep the sky true blue;
As we burry our enemies that do US harm in the vale
In full-scale; we shall prevail
So on this Remembrance day
Of September 11 we will never forget
To celebrate, the life of the dead and brave fighting guys
Reflected in Ground Towers, sky-scraping the sky
Having risen from their temporary sleep
The phoenix rises above the ashes; no more do we weep
Because it beams powerful light and might on beds of forget-me-nots

Ground Zero- Never!
Ground Towers Rebound with all its might
Blooming forget-me-nots splendidly bright;
Democracy gives US that rite.

© Paterika Hengreaves
September 7, 2011


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