The Gunners Lament (updated) 2014...

The Gunners Lament (updated) 2014…

Dokani Valley | Bamiyan (Photo credit: Hadi Zaher)

A Maori gunner lay dying
In a poppyfield north of Bamiyan,
And he said to his pakeha cobber,
“I reckon I’ve had it, man!
‘And if I could fly like a bird
To my old granny’s whare
A truck and a winch would never drag
Me back to the Army.
‘A coat and a cap and a well-paid job
Looked better than shovelling metal,
And they told me that Te Rauparaha
Would have fought in the Afghan battle.
‘On my last leave the town swung round
Like a bucket full of eels.
The girls liked the uniform
And I liked the girls.
‘Like a bullock to the abattoirs
In the name of liberty
They flew me with a hangover
Across the Tasman Sea,
‘And what I found in Bamiyan
Was mud and blood and fire,
With the Yanks and the Taliban taking turns
At murdering the poor.
‘And I saw the reason for it
In an Afghan’s blazing eyes -
We fought for the crops of kumara
And they are fighting for the poppies.
‘So go tell my sweetheart
To get another boy
Who’ll cuddle her and marry her
And laugh when the bugles blow,
‘And tell my youngest brother
He can have my shotgun
To fire at the ducks on the big lagoon,
But not to aim it at a man,
‘And tell my granny to wear black
And carry a willow leaf,
Because the kid she kept from the cold
Has eaten a dead man’s loaf.
‘And go and tell John Key
Sitting in Wellington,
However long he scrubs his hands
He’ll never get them clean.’
Original by James K Baxter, updated by Omar Hamed.
http://huttswritinglounge.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/307/     The original James k Baxter 

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Love on the moors...

Love on the moors
by KateM

Oh,John Joe was a farmer’s son
He lived up in the hills
When he went to tend his sheep
He saw the cotton mills.

The rivers ran with water pure
And so provided power
Yet over these dark ruined towns
The heathered hills did tower.

Mary was a local girl
She walked out on the moors
She wore a dress of silky cloth
Printed with small flowers.

John Joe saw Mary
When he was dipping sheep
She peered over a dry stone wall
And saw the new lambs leap.

Her hair was long.Her hair was gold
Her eyes were sapphire blue.
In John Joe’s eyes she was so fair
What was a man to do?

He watched her walking all alone
Was she sad or sick?
He showed her how his dog behaved
And showed her shepherds’ tricks.

So one day,he held her hand
As they walked to the Pike.
They stood up there and gazed all round
So John thought he would strike.

He bent down on his right knee
And spoke to Mary then.
I’ve loved you Mary since we met
I hoped we’d meet again

Mary smiled with her blue eyes;
Her lips were pink and bright.
I love you too and love the hills
And. love the summer light.

The next year they were married
Mary wore white lace.
She looked so happy then
To know she'd her own place.

The church bells rang,the people sang
John and Mary wed!
And naturally, when evening came,
At last they went to bed.

When Mary lay in John Joe’s arms
She knew this was her home.
And so for many many years
On the hills they roamed.

They cared for sheep and hens and goats
They cared for children three.
They never had a falling out…
But talked beneath a tree.

Fro youth to age the years went by
But John still loved his bride.
And Mary too was happy
With John Joe by her side.

Their faces,lined, were full of cheer
Their hair as white as snow
And everywhere that JJ went
Mary too did go.

Until the day came for his death
He lay down in the grass
Mary ran and held him close
And thus dear John did pass.

The muffled bells rang from the tower
John Joe was carried in.
The parson prayed and hymns were sung.
The sheep dog made a din.,

In the dark earth John was laid
and Mary wept and cried.
what will I do now,my sweet John ,
without you by my side?

So Mary grieved and wept and sighed
And thus she spent two years...
The loss was great and bent her back
with the weight of care.

For when we open up our hearts
We feel both joy and woe.
This is tha pattern of our love,
Which like the river flows.

In the end...

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

-by Martin Luther King Jr.

Is this indicative of where NZ is heading?

Relax with your friends...

Economic policy...

• by huttriverofnz

  

Two beings - spending their lives searching for each other...

Great spirits...

The road to success is not straight...

• nt

• by huttriverofnz

  

Imagination...

Several weeks after a young man had been hired, he was called into the personnel manager’s office.

“What is the meaning of this?” the manager asked. “When you applied for the job, you told us you had 5 years’ experience. Now we discover this is the first job you’ve ever had.”

“Well,” the young man said, “in your ad you said you wanted somebody with imagination.

The young painters...

by huttriverofnz

Two kids talking:

“I painted something for last year’s academy.”
“Was it hung?”
“Yes, near the entrance where everybody could see it.”
“Congratulations! What was it?”
“A board saying, ‘Keep To The Left’.

April Fools day...

The first of April, some do say
Is set apart for All Fool's day;
But why the people call it so
Nor I, nor they themselves, do know,
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment."

- Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790.