The Seahorse and the MermaidThe seahorse and the mermaid went up to the water’s edge one dayTo glimpse at the world above-Together they winked and leapt out of the water and to golden sands they played.They strolled in the shine of the sun, and warmed their bodies and giggled some more.For their’s was an adventure that dayAn odyssey different to the sea.The shells they found were presents for Neptune and all the seahorses galore,that fretted and cried for seahorse’s absence.For they were creatures of the seaA family yet unamed by sciences and formulasThe mermaid she dipped her sunbronzed bodyback into the sea and sweetly murmured to the seahorseWait for me!Madonna George
Category Archives: Poem of the Day
“A Tribute to WWI Military Dogs” by Robyn Youl
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LEST WE FORGET.
11/11/19-18 > 11.11.2018
HIS MASTER’S VOICE.
A Tribute to WWI Military Dogs
His Master’s Voice has gone
Dogs do not understand goodbye
He watches waits and grieves
Why do the women cry?
A War Dog has a focus
Love dictates the choice
The wailing shells surround him.
His world, His Master’s Voice
He did not care to understand
Why humans kill or play
Be it German, French or English
His Master’s Voice his day
Evading deadly Allied Bullets
On German Voice command
A precious load strapped to his back
He skims the mire of No Man’s Land
Blueruns with army orders now
There are no sheep or cattle
Blueonly hears His Anzac’s Voice
Above the roar of battle
A Red Cross Dog saves lives
Aiding those who still draw breath
The Stretcher Bearer’s Voice
Braves the screaming stench of death
Flanders fields are still blood red
Killing is still glorified
Men and dogs are still at war
Will we ever turn the tide?
Robyn Youl
Notes:
Both sides trained Military Dogs.
World War I dogs were used to carry messages, first aid kits and transmission wiring. Some dogs were army mascots.
Small dogs were also useful in the trenches to kill the hordes of rats that swarmed in the filth and squalor. Removing sick and dead men from the trenches was difficult. They were high, narrow and usually had stagnant water lying in them. Rats thrived.
The rule was Keep your Head DOWN!!! Sharp shooters on the other side of No Man’s Land were just waiting to put a bullet into any head that poked up.
No Man’s Land was the distance between enemy trenches. It was covered on barbed wire. After the troops had come out of the trenches to Charge the Enemy, No Man’s Land was the place of the dead, the injured and the dying.
The sound of shelling, machine gun and rifle fire began at daylight and did not finish until it was too dark to see.
At night the stretcher-bearers were busy taking the wounded to safety. Other soldiers were collecting Dog Tags or Identity Discs from the dead. These were used to change the records to Killed in Action and send a telegram and letter to the next of kin.
The Australian Armed Forces still train war dogs. If you love dogs you might like to find out more about them.
Horrie the War Dog by Roland Perry is an interesting yarn about a dog who worked with the Australian Army in Egypt.
“Heroes” by Mary Serenc
Leave a commentHeroes
Clap, yes clap loudly
For only they know the suffering
Memories etched in time-worn faces
Framed in the windows of the RSL bus.
Clap, clap hard
For the years unlived,
For those left behind.
Clap, don’t stop
For the ones still marching,
Medals hanging heavy on their hearts.
Clap for them
Clap for them all,
For only they know
The silent horror of war.
Mary Serenc
“My Racehorse“ by Ron Marsh
Leave a commentMY RACEHORSE
I’d like to own a pacing horse,
Or maybe just a pony.
I’d take it to the racing course,
To join the ceremonies.
He’d always be fed every dawn,
With oats and hay and corn,
A horse would never hungry be,
If it belonged to me.
I could not care, there’s no disgrace,
Should it never win a race,
I’d be so happy just to own,
A racehorse of my very own.
“Four Legs” by Penny Szentkuti
Leave a commentFour Legs
Four legs and a tail –
it could be a dog.
Four legs and a croak?
That’s a frog!
Four legs and a hump –
it must be a camel.
Four legs and fur?
It’s some kind of mammal.
But four legs and a mane –
long legs for trotting,
strong galloping legs,
and a tail for fly swatting?
That’s easy now,
I know it of course!
That four legged friend
is a horse.
“My Uncle’s Horse” by Ron Marsh
Leave a commentMY UNCLE’S HORSE
My uncle had a Clydesdale,
He’d traded for a pup,
He took him down to Flemington,
To run the Melbourne Cup.
The crowd they were all laughing,
And even stewards too,
No one believed as uncle did,
Just what his nag could do.
The horses all were at the gate,
And champing at the bit,
And as the barrier went up,
The field, they had a fit.
They’d never seen a horse like that,
They frolicked on the ground,
No matter what the jockeys did,
No other horse was found
To run against the Clydesdale,
As he went round and round.
So uncle’s horse, he won the race,
And the shiny Melbourne Cup
To the North, was taken up.
The Clydesdale never raced again.
And almost always had for sup.
A manger full of oats and grain.
“Girl on a Bolting Horse” by Katherine Gallagher
Leave a commentGirl on a Bolting Horse
The horse’s head forward, not surrendering,
the girl vertical in the stirrups
the black sky gathering steel.
Wind slicing the hair from her face,
the dark curve of herself going faster —
the blur of her brothers, standing transfixed;
she, holding her breath, bone-afraid
and flying . . .
© Katherine Gallagher
(from Circus-Apprentice, Arc Publications, 2006)
“Flying Gallop” by Celia Berrell
Leave a commentFlying Gallop
Before Eadweard Muybridge
came along
most painters painted
their horses wrong.
When galloping, galloping
at great speed,
legs of their steed?
We can hear when they gallop
and gallop at pace
there’s a break in the sound,
like their feet are in space.
So we know from this galloping
galloping sound,
there’s a time when all hooves
are NOT on the ground.
Like a carousel horse
with its legs all-stretched-out,
most artists made horse-legs
the wrong way about.
Then Muybridge’s movie
closed the affair.
Horse-legs are TUCKED
when all in the air.
Perched high on a horse,
we can’t really tell
as it’s hard to see where
a horse’s legs dwell.
And a galloping gallop’s like
flying as well.
So let’s soar on a horse
on a carousel!
Inspired by The Horse in Motion movie by Eadweard Muybridge 1878
http://100photos.time.com/photos/eadweard-muybridge-horse-in-motion
“Fred, Ted and Ned” by Caroline Tuohey
Leave a commentFred, Ted and Ned.
I have a mate whose name is Fred.
“I’d like a verse,” is what he said.
So I sat down with sharpened lead,
and penned some lines that end in ‘ed’.
I wrote about a horse named Ned,
whose owner’s name was Mister Ted.
He built that horse a fancy shed;
He shod him, groomed him, kept him fed.
Ned had a rug of crimson red,
embroidered with a golden thread.
He wore that rug when Mister Ted,
last Sunday rode to church to wed
his girlfriend who had bravely led
an army – she had battle cred!
Then after vows they quickly sped,
along the road in wooden sled.
The sled was pulled, of course, by Ned.
The reins were held by Missus Ted,
while Mister Ted laid out a spread
of cakes and biscuits, jam and bread.
But now this verse must end dear Fred,
I’ve no more ‘eds’ left in my head!
Caroline Tuohey
“The Shark in the Park” by James Aitchison
Leave a commentTHE SHARK IN THE PARK
I heard a shark bark
One night in the dark;
It was in the park,
(But just for a lark).
There in the moonlight,
Its teeth pearly white,
It gave me a fright
That terrible night.
Stop making a din!
You’d better come in,
And don’t flap your fin
At my garbage bin.
Australian Children’s Poetry 