Poetry Nest: Sugarcane

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sugarcane

Look, see those people in the fields standing with feet in so much trash. No doubt, they are thinking about the weekend cash as they do the sugarcane dance. They top each blade of grass with a lance. They are as busy as the bees. On the island they work for Arthur and me. Who are those people in the fields? They are the sugar-workers, and oh how they please as they swing and hurl their hands in the breeze and kiss the grasses with bended knees. Their voices are loud, but their throats are not hoarse. They sing too sweetly, but their hands might be coarse. What are the words to the tunes they sing? Do you know the lyrics to what they say? Are they singing calypso songs about Harding, and Carlisle Bay? But I say to you, that yearly they dance in every crop-over band, which brings foreign capital flowing to this our beautiful land.

© Paterika Hengreaves

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In plenty and in time of need When this fair land was young Our brave forefathers sowed the seed From which our pride was sprung A pride that makes no wanton boast Of what it has withstood That binds our hearts from coast to coast The pride of nationhood

Chorus:

We loyal sons and daughters all Do hereby make it known These fields and hills beyond recall Are now our very own We write our names on history's page With expectations great Strict guardians of our heritage Firm craftsmen of our fate

The Lord has been the people's guide For past three hundred years. With Him still on the people's side We have no doubts or fears. Upward and onward we shall go, Inspired, exulting, free, And greater will our nation grow In strength and unity.

Chorus

Sample Didactic Poems

National Anthems of New Zealand

Anthem 1

Māori Version

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

Ōna mano tāngata
Kiri whero, kiri mā,
Iwi Māori, Pākehā,
Rūpeke katoa,
Nei ka tono ko ngā hē
Māu e whakaahu kē,
Kia ora mārire
Aotearoa

Tōna mana kia tū!
Tōna kaha kia ū;
Tōna rongo hei pakū
Ki te ao katoa
Aua rawa ngā whawhai
Ngā tutū e tata mai;
Kia tupu nui ai
Aotearoa

Waiho tona takiwā
Ko te ao mārama;
Kia whiti tōna rā
Taiāwhio noa.
Ko te hae me te ngangau
Meinga kia kore kau;
Waiho i te rongo mau
Aotearoa

Tōna pai me toitū
Tika rawa, pono pū;
Tōna noho, tāna tū;
Iwi nō Ihowā.
Kaua mōna whakamā;
Kia hau te ingoa;
Kia tū hei tauira;
Aotearoa

English Version

God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.

Men of every creed and race,
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our free land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our state,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.

Peace, not war, shall be our boast,
But, should foes assail our coast,
Make us then a mighty host,
God defend our free land.
Lord of battles in Thy might,
Put our enemies to flight,
Let our cause be just and right,
God defend New Zealand.

Let our love for Thee increase,
May Thy blessings never cease,
Give us plenty, give us peace,
God defend our free land.
From dishonour and from shame,
Guard our country's spotless name,
Crown her with immortal fame,
God defend New Zealand.

May our mountains ever be
Freedom's ramparts on the sea,
Make us faithful unto Thee,
God defend our free land.
Guide her in the nations' van,
Preaching love and truth to man,
Working out Thy glorious plan,
God defend New Zealand.

Anthem 2

God Save the Queen

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save The Queen.
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save The Queen.

O Lord our God, arise,
Scatter our enemies,
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks;
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save The Queen.

Note: The second verse of 'God Save The Queen' is commonly omitted.

More on Paterika

Patricia (aka Paterika) obtained her post-primary education at the SDA Secondary School in Barbados and its affiliate College (Caribbean Union College) in Trinidad and Tobago. She graduated from Shaw College of Business, Toronto, Canada in 1969. She received the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) scholarship in 1976 to study Teacher Education at McGill University, Montreal, Canada in 1980. Also, the British Council Award to study Information Technology at Tresham College, Kettering in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom in 1991. She published her first book of poems in 2005 while in New Zealand. Her flair for writing came to the fore in the many articles she wrote for “Image”; a magazine published by the Police Wives Association of Barbados (PWA) during the late eighties and early nineties.

Her community outreach activities stemmed from her involvement with the Lions Club North of Barbados as one of its Secretaries and where she worked closely with the Education Committee of that Club. She is a founder member of the Police Wives Association of Barbados. She held for a long time, the post of Secretary before becoming one of PWA’s Presidents.

Patricia started her career as a young teacher in the Primary School System of Barbados. This career-span lasted more than forty years. During her career climb, she took time off for study-leave and travel. Her many years spent in academia allowed her to hold the position of a Primary School teacher, Secondary School teacher, Head of Business Studies, Chief Examiner for Caribbean Examinations Council, Education Officer seconded to the Division of School Management and Supervision in 1993 to the Barbados Ministry of Education. In 1997, she returned to her substantive post of Tutor at Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, a position she held for seventeen years. Patricia’s classroom teaching has been influenced by the philosophy of constructivism. She is a proponent of curriculum integration and believes that themes are the fusion blocks for it, and that it requires the use of thematic lesson plans and topic webs. Now Tutor Emeritus she devotes much of her time to travel both local and overseas and to writing in the muse.

Patricia writes under the pseudonym of Paterika Hengreaves. In her voluminous book of poetry, Volume 1 was published in New Zealand in 2005 whereas; Volume 2 was published in 2007 by AuthorHouse, USA. In each volume she has poems which depict such forms as the ballad, cinquain, epic, haiku, ode, pantoum, paradelle, senryu, sestina, sonnet, tanka, terza rima triolet, villanelle and free verse. She has developed a new poetic form called the Hendianne Sonnet found in Volume 2. This Hendianne Sonnet is made up of three quatrains and an ending couplet with all the verses written in Iambic Pentameter. The first quatrain introduces the theme or problem. The next two quatrains provide the resolution. A “twist” comes at the beginning of the last quatrain. This turn signals a change in the tone, mood or stance of the poem. The end-rhymes in each verse follow a determined rhyme scheme. The influence of the Shakespearean Sonnet can be seen in the structure of the Hendianne Sonnet.

Paterika speaks passionately about her poetry. The intended purposes of her poetry is to bring pleasure reading to all members of the family; to enhance the capabilities for self-instruction in the various poetic genres, and to provide a ready assortment of classroom support materials for constructivists educators in the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the education system. She equates the success of her undertaking in terms of the achievement of any one of these goals.

It is not at all surprising to see that her career has enormous impact on the layout and purposes served by her poetry book. The visual impact of this book of poems is truly marvellous. Paterika is an artist “par excellence” who has a rare gift of painting picturesque scenes with words steeped in such imagery and thought that her readers feel compel to visit each poem again and again. Since 2005 on World Diabetes Day, Paterika has given donations from the proceeds of the sale of her poetry book to the Diabetes Association of Barbados.

Poetry For All Seasons: Poems, Forms and Styles by Paterika Hengreaves

Overview:

It is a poetry book for teachers and persons who find much pleasure in reading poetry in its various genres. All the poems in this delightful book carry with them comments and relevant notes from the poet. These poems and commentaries should provide useful resource materials for classroom instruction; for persons who wish to horn the skills of writing and the reading of poetry on their own, and for persons who like to read poetry for the pleasure it brings.

Poetry is one of the ways educators have at their disposal for integrating concepts across Language Arts, Social Studies, Business Studies, Natural Sciences, Natural History, Mathematics, Home Economics, Health and Family Life, Movement and Dance. In this book, educators are sure to find themes which relate to aging, animals, birds, celebrations, communications, death, entertainment, the environment, exploration, horticulture, health, insects, leadership, leisure, legends, marketing, manufacturing, myths, seasons, specialization, technology, tourism, travel, waste management, water. The list is by no means exhaustive. So, in a remarkable way, this poetry book accomplishes three main goals:

1. A textbook for teaching poetry

2. A resource book for constructivist teachers,
tutors and instructors

3. Pleasure reading for all members of the family

Author's Profile:
http://www.blogger.com/

Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication Date: September 2007
ISBN: 9781434306708
Pages: 200
Pictures: 23
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pound
Type: Paperback

Available from:
Cloister Bookstore Ltd
Hinks Street
Bridgetown
Barbados, West Indies
Telephone: (246) 426 2662
Email: cloisterbookstore@caribsurf.com

and leading on-line bookstores

Quotes from Poets

He that respects himself is safe from others. He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.
James Russell Lowell

If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom.
Robert Frost

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.
Robert Frost

The value of a dollar is social, as it is created by society.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once to every person and nation come the moment to decide. In the conflict of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side.
James Russell Lowell

The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.
Robert Frost

Poetry is something to make us wiser and better, by continually revealing those types of beauty and truth, which God has set in all men's souls.
James Russell Lowell

MLK

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MEMORIAL DEDICATION

The National Mall

Washington, D.C.

11:51 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. (Applause.) Please be seated.

An earthquake and a hurricane may have delayed this day, but this is a day that would not be denied.

For this day, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s return to the National Mall. In this place, he will stand for all time, among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it; a black preacher with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals, a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union more perfect.

And Dr. King would be the first to remind us that this memorial is not for him alone. The movement of which he was a part depended on an entire generation of leaders. Many are here today, and for their service and their sacrifice, we owe them our everlasting gratitude. This is a monument to your collective achievement. (Applause.)

Some giants of the civil rights movement -- like Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth -- they've been taken from us these past few years. This monument attests to their strength and their courage, and while we miss them dearly, we know they rest in a better place.

And finally, there are the multitudes of men and women whose names never appear in the history books -- those who marched and those who sang, those who sat in and those who stood firm, those who organized and those who mobilized -- all those men and women who through countless acts of quiet heroism helped bring about changes few thought were even possible. "By the thousands," said Dr. King, "faceless, anonymous, relentless young people, black and white...have taken our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence." To those men and women, to those foot soldiers for justice, know that this monument is yours, as well.

Nearly half a century has passed since that historic March on Washington, a day when thousands upon thousands gathered for jobs and for freedom. That is what our schoolchildren remember best when they think of Dr. King -- his booming voice across this Mall, calling on America to make freedom a reality for all of God's children, prophesizing of a day when the jangling discord of our nation would be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

It is right that we honor that march, that we lift up Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech -- for without that shining moment, without Dr. King's glorious words, we might not have had the courage to come as far as we have. Because of that hopeful vision, because of Dr. King's moral imagination, barricades began to fall and bigotry began to fade. New doors of opportunity swung open for an entire generation. Yes, laws changed, but hearts and minds changed, as well.

Look at the faces here around you, and you see an America that is more fair and more free and more just than the one Dr. King addressed that day. We are right to savor that slow but certain progress -- progress that's expressed itself in a million ways, large and small, across this nation every single day, as people of all colors and creeds live together, and work together, and fight alongside one another, and learn together, and build together, and love one another.

So it is right for us to celebrate today Dr. King's dream and his vision of unity. And yet it is also important on this day to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily; that Dr. King's faith was hard-won; that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitter disappointments.

It is right for us to celebrate Dr. King's marvelous oratory, but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone. Progress was hard. Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats. For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement, there were setbacks and there were defeats.

We forget now, but during his life, Dr. King wasn't always considered a unifying figure. Even after rising to prominence, even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King was vilified by many, denounced as a rabble rouser and an agitator, a communist and a radical. He was even attacked by his own people, by those who felt he was going too fast or those who felt he was going too slow; by those who felt he shouldn't meddle in issues like the Vietnam War or the rights of union workers. We know from his own testimony the doubts and the pain this caused him, and that the controversy that would swirl around his actions would last until the fateful day he died.

I raise all this because nearly 50 years after the March on Washington, our work, Dr. King's work, is not yet complete. We gather here at a moment of great challenge and great change. In the first decade of this new century, we have been tested by war and by tragedy; by an economic crisis and its aftermath that has left millions out of work, and poverty on the rise, and millions more just struggling to get by. Indeed, even before this crisis struck, we had endured a decade of rising inequality and stagnant wages. In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 years ago -- neighborhoods with underfunded schools and broken-down slums, inadequate health care, constant violence, neighborhoods in which too many young people grow up with little hope and few prospects for the future.

Our work is not done. And so on this day, in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles. First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick. Change has never been simple, or without controversy. Change depends on persistence. Change requires determination. It took a full decade before the moral guidance of Brown v. Board of Education was translated into the enforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, but those 10 long years did not lead Dr. King to give up. He kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came. (Applause.)

And then when, even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed, African Americans still found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country, Dr. King didn't say those laws were a failure; he didn't say this is too hard; he didn't say, let's settle for what we got and go home. Instead he said, let's take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice; let's fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work. In other words, when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the "isness" of today. He kept pushing towards the "oughtness" of tomorrow.

And so, as we think about all the work that we must do -- rebuilding an economy that can compete on a global stage, and fixing our schools so that every child -- not just some, but every child -- gets a world-class education, and making sure that our health care system is affordable and accessible to all, and that our economic system is one in which everybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share, let us not be trapped by what is. (Applause.) We can't be discouraged by what is. We've got to keep pushing for what ought to be, the America we ought to leave to our children, mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr. King and his fellow marchers faced 50 years ago, and that if we maintain our faith, in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation, there is no challenge we cannot surmount.

And just as we draw strength from Dr. King's struggles, so must we draw inspiration from his constant insistence on the oneness of man; the belief in his words that "we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." It was that insistence, rooted in his Christian faith, that led him to tell a group of angry young protesters, "I love you as I love my own children," even as one threw a rock that glanced off his neck.

It was that insistence, that belief that God resides in each of us, from the high to the low, in the oppressor and the oppressed, that convinced him that people and systems could change. It fortified his belief in non-violence. It permitted him to place his faith in a government that had fallen short of its ideals. It led him to see his charge not only as freeing black America from the shackles of discrimination, but also freeing many Americans from their own prejudices, and freeing Americans of every color from the depredations of poverty.

And so at this moment, when our politics appear so sharply polarized, and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished, we need more than ever to take heed of Dr. King's teachings. He calls on us to stand in the other person's shoes; to see through their eyes; to understand their pain. He tells us that we have a duty to fight against poverty, even if we are well off; to care about the child in the decrepit school even if our own children are doing fine; to show compassion toward the immigrant family, with the knowledge that most of us are only a few generations removed from similar hardships. (Applause.)

To say that we are bound together as one people, and must constantly strive to see ourselves in one another, is not to argue for a false unity that papers over our differences and ratifies an unjust status quo. As was true 50 years ago, as has been true throughout human history, those with power and privilege will often decry any call for change as "divisive." They'll say any challenge to the existing arrangements are unwise and destabilizing. Dr. King understood that peace without justice was no peace at all; that aligning our reality with our ideals often requires the speaking of uncomfortable truths and the creative tension of non-violent protest.

But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change, there must be the possibility of reconciliation; that any social movement has to channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality.

If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there; that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company's union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain. He would want us to know we can argue fiercely about the proper size and role of government without questioning each other's love for this country -- (applause) -- with the knowledge that in this democracy, government is no distant object but is rather an expression of our common commitments to one another. He would call on us to assume the best in each other rather than the worst, and challenge one another in ways that ultimately heal rather than wound.

In the end, that's what I hope my daughters take away from this monument. I want them to come away from here with a faith in what they can accomplish when they are determined and working for a righteous cause. I want them to come away from here with a faith in other people and a faith in a benevolent God. This sculpture, massive and iconic as it is, will remind them of Dr. King's strength, but to see him only as larger than life would do a disservice to what he taught us about ourselves. He would want them to know that he had setbacks, because they will have setbacks. He would want them to know that he had doubts, because they will have doubts. He would want them to know that he was flawed, because all of us have flaws.

It is precisely because Dr. King was a man of flesh and blood and not a figure of stone that he inspires us so. His life, his story, tells us that change can come if you don't give up. He would not give up, no matter how long it took, because in the smallest hamlets and the darkest slums, he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit; because in those moments when the struggle seemed most hopeless, he had seen men and women and children conquer their fear; because he had seen hills and mountains made low and rough places made plain, and the crooked places made straight and God make a way out of no way.

And that is why we honor this man -- because he had faith in us. And that is why he belongs on this Mall -- because he saw what we might become. That is why Dr. King was so quintessentially American -- because for all the hardships we've endured, for all our sometimes tragic history, ours is a story of optimism and achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this Earth. And that is why the rest of the world still looks to us to lead. This is a country where ordinary people find in their hearts the courage to do extraordinary things; the courage to stand up in the face of the fiercest resistance and despair and say this is wrong, and this is right; we will not settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept and we will reach again and again, no matter the odds, for what we know is possible.

That is the conviction we must carry now in our hearts. (Applause.) As tough as times may be, I know we will overcome. I know there are better days ahead. I know this because of the man towering over us. I know this because all he and his generation endured -- we are here today in a country that dedicated a monument to that legacy.

And so with our eyes on the horizon and our faith squarely placed in one another, let us keep striving; let us keep struggling; let us keep climbing toward that promised land of a nation and a world that is more fair, and more just, and more equal for every single child of God.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END 12:12 P.M. EDT

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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sugarcane

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Poetry For All Seasons: Poems, Forms and Styles by Paterika Hengreaves

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