Eclipse

ABC WEDNESDAY
http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com.au
letter 'E'

 ECLIPSE

They traveled to Easter Island

For a total eclipse of the sun.

It would only last a minute or two

And then be over and done.

Once, long ago, in magical days,

Other people gathered to see

The wonderful transformation

Of the sun out over the sea.

They trembled as it blackened

And then it disappeared!

This was one of the magical things

They all so devoutly feared!

Because these were the days of magic

And science was quite unknown

They feared that the sun's disappearance

Would mean they were turned to stone!

And, sure enough, as they gazed at it,

They felt quite faint and ill.

They turned to stone while gazing

And we see them gazing still.

*

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WATERED BY TEARS
A Hawaiian Folk Tale.

The greatest storm since the world began, 

Frightening every mortal man, 

Reached Hawaii one dreadful night. 

Lightning had never been so bright. 

There had never been such loud thunder! 

All Hawaiians were filled with wonder. 

The storm erupted, long and loud 

From a great enveloping purple cloud. 

And when it was over, the great god Ku, 

Was walking among them, and no-one knew. 

He had come from the skies in the mighty storm 

And now he would take on human form. 

When people saw a stranger there, 

With a tall tanned body and thick black hair, 

They realised he was  very fine 

But they never guessed he was divine. 

With his big strong hands he planted crops; 

He easily climbed the mountain tops, 

He worked all day with the strength of ten. 

He was certainly not like other men. 

The girls of Hawaii lost their hearts 

To this stranger who'd come from distant parts. 

But Ku had chosen his future wife 

And, together, they started their married life. 

Years passed and a terrible famine arrived! 

Scarcely one single Hawaiian survived. 

People were starving out in the street, 

For the crops had failed; there was nothing to eat. 

Ku's own children were thin and weak; 

They could hardly move, they could hardly speak. 

Now Ku was unable to tell his wife, 

The one who had loved him more than life, 

That he was a god from up on high, 

So he looked in her eyes and just said 'Goodbye' 

Do not cry for me, do not grieve. 

I can only say that I have to leave.

 To save our people I must go 

Way way down in the earth below!' 

And she replied 'You have my trust. 

You will only go if you really must.' 

Then, right there, before her eyes, 

Her husband, a great god in disguise, 

Sank through the ground and was suddenly gone, 

Nothing remained to gaze upon.  

His wife then knew that he had a plan 

And he never had been a mortal man. 

She sat and wept  with a mournful sound 

And her tears soon soaked the soil around. 

And, as she wept, a bright shoot grew 

Sprouting up all green and new. 

And, bit by bit, a breadfruit tree 

Grew up and up for all to see. 

And the people cried 'A breadfruit's growing! 

See how all the shoots are showing!'  

And they grabbed the shoots take away 

But they heard a voice from the ether say 

'If you plunder this breadfruit tree 

The way you act will anger me. 

I'll disappear, in the blink of an eye 

And you will all be left to die! 

But, if you wait till I'm fully grown, 

You can all have shoots of your very own.' 

And the people knew that a god was speaking, 

Bringing the food they had been seeking. 

They fell down and showed him their gratitude 

For all the abundance of breadfruit food. 

And the one tree prospered, and more beside, 

And breadfruit spread over the countryside. 

And the people were happy because they knew 

That this was the gift from the great god Ku.

*
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PS

Malcolm was diagnosed with macular degeneration yesterday. That sounds like awful news, but it's only in one eye, it's been caught early and it's probably treatable. He had an injection into his eye today and I think there are many more to come, but we are both so pleased that we live in an era of medical miracles.