Our thoughts this week focus on resilience, and so we would like to share an extract from our latest Heron Parent Newsletter:
We are lucky to have Mr Hamilton, a resident poet at our school. Inspired by the fortitude shown by those speaking of their experiences of the Second World War over the VE day celebrations, he has penned his own poem. The poem explores the idea set by Churchill in 1941, that whilst things might seem very difficult we are NOT going to crumble. We hope this resonates with all of the members of the Herne Bay High School Community who demonstrate this daily, and a special thank you to Mr Hamilton for sharing this poem with us.
We Shall Never Surrender
“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home.” - Winston Churchill
We’ll fight, not on the landing-grounds,
nor in the streets or shires,
but fortified within the bounds
that Lockdown now requires.
We’ll fight this in the living-room,
we’ll fight it on the stairs,
the kitchen, garden, little-room
with anti-bac and prayers.
Our weapons – Skype, What’sApp and Zoom,
a patient heart and mind,
and guts of iron to consume
whatever you can find.
We’ll fight this thing, this thing unseen,
with all our hearts – we’ll fight!
We’ll hoover twice a day, and clean
the cooker every night.
On shopping runs we’ll anti-bac
our hands, and wear a mask;
no panic, calmly we’ll attack
this Crystal-Maze-like task.
We’ll find new ways of spicing up
our cheese or beans on toast:
we’ll serve them in a china-cup
and drink our Sunday roast.
We’ll bake (despite the lack of flour) –
our love of cakes reborn;
we’ll bake them in the midnight hour
and eat them all by dawn.
We’ll watch repeats and shout because
the people act immune,
then tell ourselves “That’s how it was.
And will be someday soon.”
A scattered band of fighters, we
are one, though forced apart;
this separation-unity,
this network, and this heart.
We’ll fight the doubt, the troubling thought;
we’ll wash away all fear;
we’ll fight just like we’ve always fought –
there’s no surrender here.
