1. Racism Is Around Me Everywhere - Francis Duggan

1. Racism is around me everywhere - Francis Duggan

Of human ignorance I am almost in despair

For racism is around me everywhere

But like they say sheer ignorance is bliss

Just like Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

Some people carry their honour in a flag

And of their Nationality they brag

They feel superior and they differentiate

And against those who are different they discriminate.

So many people still judged by their race

For such there never ought to be a place

'A fair go' those untruthful words I do recall

There is no such a thing as a 'fair go for all'.

Though we live in a so called democracy

Of racism we never will be free

They judge you by where you come from and the colour of your skin

For many equality and respect seems impossible to win.

It's been awhile since the days of Martin Luther King

His name to it has a familiar ring

If against racism he did not choose to strive

Today the great man he would be alive.

So many holding the reins of power not spiritually aware

And racism is around me everywhere

And racism only leads to division and war

Just goes to show how ignorant some are.

Theme: Even after all the fighting for equality, racism is still very prominent in our lives

2. The End - Gary Bateman

Seeing through these cold dead eyes now

This world looks much different.

The scars of one’s life entire,

Appear now for all to see.

What once meant everything,

Really means nothing now.

I still see and sense things mortal,

But the earthly world can’t hear my words.

Lying on an ice-cold white slab this darkest night,

I see the pale yellow moon’s sad face in the sky.

With visions of people who’ve crossed over before,

I wonder when Charon shall finally appear?

Shall it be him who appears on this new horizon?

Or shall it be someone or something else?

The everyday mortal world moves on as before:

Regardless of one’s wealth, poverty, fame, shame, infamy.

I guess now all the ancient mysteries of the universe,

Shall become obvious and answered in kind.

I wonder what shall be said to me and the reception?

Thumbs up or thumbs down—I guess I shall find out.

The pale yellow moon now appears brighter . . .

As if a special message cometh soon from a winged angel.

Hope this helps to answer my lingering questions . . .

As the dark void from the mortal world grows greater now.

I feel a gentle tug pulling me upward now from Earth’s grasp,

Into the majestic arms of infinity and into God’s eternal light!

Theme: Death is not the end, but it is the beginning of a new chapter of life.

3. Oradour-sur glaneDavid Lewis

I woke to the smell of new baked bread

From the bakery, down the way,

Mama was singing and feeding the hens,

I had no school today,

Pierre and I had arranged to go

For a ramble, soon or late,

To look for the trilling skylark's nest,

And the hedgehog's rolling gait.

Papa was sat in the garden, he

Was fixing my sister's bike,

While Grandpa sat on the old wood bench,

Filling his gnarled old pipe,

The sun was set in a pale blue sky

And the lord smiled down on the town,

The war was a million miles away

From Oradour-sur-Glane.

Pierre was waiting across the street,

We ran with a whoop of joy,

‘I'll race you out to the barley field, '

He said, my cousin's boy.

We found a hollow within the crop

Lay there in the broad sunlight,

And watched the birds as they swooped on down

From their laughing, joyous flight!

At two o'clock, we heard the clatter

Of many an Army truck,

They drove to surround the village fields,

There were twenty, near enough.

Then soldiers leapt from the canopies,

Their uniforms were black,

An SS sign on their collars, and

A skull on each forage cap!

They herded the workers into the town,

We lay in a funk, and hid,

We heard the guttural, sharp commands,

They did as the soldiers bid,

A woman ran in a terror then,

A shot rang out and she fell,

Pierre stood up, as he ran he cried:

‘That was my aunt Giselle! '

I said: ‘Come back! ' but he ran towards

The centre of the town,

A shot rang out as he scaled the fence,

Pierre went tumbling down!

I knew at once that my friend was dead,

I held my breath, and wept,

And burrowed deep in the barley field,

I see his body yet!

They marched the men en masse along

To Madame Laudy's barn,

They led the women and children

To the church, in their alarm!

They took the babies, pushers too,

Crammed deep inside the church,

But then the SS opened fire,

And they lit a blazing torch.

The men, they were slaughtered in the barn,

They never told them why,

The barn went up in flames as well,

I lay in the field, and cried,

I lost my mother and sister too,

My father and my gran,

The Devil smiled on his work that day

In Oradour-sur Glane!

They burnt the town, burnt every home,

They turned the town to hell,

I wonder whether the soldiers wept

When they went down, as well;

For off the coast, at Normandy

Was an Army with a plan,

To slay the butchers that killed the town

OfOradour-sur-Glane!

Theme: War can affect anyone at anytime and it spares no victims of its pain

4. Narrative Set In A Blank House - Leon Agnew

I've felt quite lonely lately.

It really puts the plight of the lonely in perspective.

I don't like it much.

It's rather boring.

You see, not much happens to a lonely man.

Anyhow, I have a friend named Ted.

He lives in Halifax.

Disliking the weather, I gave him a call.

I said, 'Hello, Ted. How are you? '

'Quite alright.' I think he said something like that.

'I feel a bit lonely, ' I said after a bit.

I recall him chuckling. 'What for? '

'I don't know.'

'Well, ' he replied, 'you got me, you know.'

'I think.' I recall pausing, to think.

I just wasn't sure. You know how that is, right?

'What do you mean? ' he asked, as a friend would ask.

'Well, ' I replied,

'I think you are why I'm lonely.'

He laughed again. Ted was a laugher.

'Why's that Jim? '

I paused again. 'Because you died, Ted.

Ten years ago.

And I'm standing here, receiver in hand,

The tone in my ears,

And your voice in my head.'

He paused. I paused. We both paused.

There was pausing enough to stop time.

And then he said, 'Wow, you must be lonely.'

I am.

Theme: Grief can cause people to behave strangely and abnormally.

5. Kindness - Naomi Shihab

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

Theme: To really understand kindness, one must first understand loss and sadness

6. Learning - Elizabeth Smith

I was told I'm a know-it-all and that might be true

But from a fine mentor I've learned a thing or two

I've assimilated wisdom and tuition from a teacher

not well known

Who imparted to me the knowledge I now own

Black holes, string theory and quantum mechanics

A pundit not more erudite this side of the Atlantic

French, German and Spanish with Latin as the ground

Lead to illumination it has been found

Reading about writing and writing about reading

From which a seeker can grasp meaning

Painting describes nature in all one is seeing

And that is the preceptor who is a three in one

Learning from this master has only just begun

It may be wondered just who is this scholarly guy

No guy at all, the three in one is me, myself and I

Theme:

8. Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may tread me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Theme:With self respect and confidence, one can overcome all obstacles in life.

Another theme is to be proud of your upbringing.

10. Nature Trail - Benjamin Zephaniah

At the bottom of my garden

There's a hedgehog and a frog

And a lot of creepy-crawlies

Living underneath a log,

There's a baby daddy long legs

And an easy-going snail

And a family of woodlice,

All are on my nature trail.

There are caterpillars waiting

For their time to come to fly,

There are worms turning the earth over

As ladybirds fly by,

Birds will visit, cats will visit

But they always chose their time

And I've even seen a fox visit

This wild garden of mine.

Squirrels come to nick my nuts

And busy bees come buzzing

And when the night time comes

Sometimes some dragonflies come humming,

My garden mice are very shy

And I've seen bats that growl

And in my garden I have seen

A very wise old owl.

My garden is a lively place

There's always something happening,

There's this constant search for food

And then there's all that flowering,

When you have a garden

You will never be alone

And I believe we all deserve

A garden of our own.

Theme: You will never be alone when you're in nature.

11. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud - William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Theme: Even when you are alone, you can still find happiness if you use your imagination

12. Sonnet - Elizabeth Bishop

I am in need of music that would flow

Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,

Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,

With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.

Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,

Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,

A song to fall like water on my head,

And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:

A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool

Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep

To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,

And floats forever in a moon-green pool,

Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.

Theme: To some people music is very important and it makes them feel good.