Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Story of Easter for Children

I wrote Story of Easter for Children because tomorrow is Maundy Thursday when the Queen gives Maundy Money to pensioners. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and after tomorrow it's Good Friday and then there's Easter Sunday. Kids probably don't know anything other than it's an Eating Chocolate Fest so this is my poem explaining it in rhyme, for this blog of course but primarily as a contribution to the great new website www.history-for-kids.com

Do you know the story of Easter?
Of course you get Easter eggs so yummy
But Easter is about much more
Than just good things for your tummy


It is a Christian Church Festival
Held every Spring
About the death of Jesus...that's bad
And his coming to life again...Good Thing !



Palm Sunday is a week before Easter
It celebrates when Jesus rode into Jerusalem town
On a donkey, which walked over
All the coats that the people threw down


Story of Easter for Children


The people who didn’t have coats
Went to the fields where they found
Palm branches which they spread
All across the ground



These people knew that Jesus was special.
It was like when a King comes to town,
They didn’t have a red carpet
So they laid their coats, and branches down.

Story of Easter for Children


And to this day a donkey is special
Because it carried Jesus with care~
If you look at the back of a donkey
You’ll see a cross is still there



Next comes the day of the Last Supper
Maundy Thursday, when Judas was Jesus’ enemy
For silver money, he betrayed his friend
In the Garden of Gethsemane


Maundy means commandment
Jesus said at the Last Supper“I am your brother
As I have loved you
You must love one another”


The Queen of Britain gives money
Every Maundy Day
To people who are old
And no longer get any pay


Story of Easter for Children


The next day is Good Friday
The day Jesus was crucified
Two days later, on Easter Sunday he said
"I've come back...coz I've just un-died


He didn't stay long with his friends
He didn't die, but rather
He went straight up to Heaven
To join God, which art (who was) His Father


The word Easter comes from Eostre
The name of a Saxon godd-ess
Who found a little bird
In a little bit of a mess

The poor bird couldn't fly
It had lost more than a feather
So the goddess turned it into a hare
To survive the Winter weather

Story of Easter for Children


The hare found it could lay eggs
Which was a very strange thing
So it decorated the eggs and gave them
To the goddess every Spring


If you think that a hare laying eggs
Is so very funny
Remember,
that's why we have Easter eggs
And of course, the Easter Bunny


Jon Bratton 2009

If you want more, click the link

Story of Easter for Children

This story of easter for children is copyright of Jon Bratton 2009

Easter Bunny Girl
Myspace Glitter Graphics

Short Easter Poems



As Easter is nearly upon us I thought I'd bring you some Short Easter poems...just when all your cards have already been sent for this year. I drafted this entry weeks ago and then got busy.This first one was for an Aunt who wanted to send a card to her 20 year old nephew and made a card with an Easter Bunny Girl on the front


You're too old for easter eggs and things
My handsome young nephew
But you're not too young for Easter 'chicks'
So I'm sending one to you


To put a Spring in your step

Jon Bratton 2009
**

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Chocolate is brown
Happy Easter to you

Short Easter Poems



Easter duck and Easter chick,
Easter eggs with chocolate thick.
Easter hats for one and all,
Easter bunny makes a call!
Happy Easter always brings
Such a lot of pleasant things!


Short easter Poems


Hello yellow
For chicks and daffodils
Playing, swaying in the Springtime breeze
Howdi brown,( not for trees)
But for Chocolate,chocolate...and more chocolate
Pleeeeeeease



This one is for that new breed of people
Child Rearing Grandparents


Mum (Mom) (and Dad) you know I (we) rely on you
Perhaps more than I (we) ought
But I (we) really do appreciate
All your love and support


Have a really lovely Easter
And may all your chocs be beauties
Have a nice long rest before resuming
Your childminding duties


Which I (we) hope you find rewarding
Not in money terms, as such
But knowing that I (we) and the children
Love you very much


Jon Bratton c 2006


***


Happy Norther
Happy Souther
Happy Wester

Got it !Happy Easter


***


Guess who's hop, hop, hopping your way?
To wish you a hap, hap, happy Holiday.
Loaded with goodies made just for you.
It's the Easter Bunny
That's who.




May your Easter be wrapped in happiness .....and tied with love


Want More? Click the Link
Short Easter Poems


This Short Easter Poems blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009
Non commercial use of the poems is OK but not for use on websites

Friday, 27 March 2009

Black History Poems

This Black History poems blog is another of my contributions for the website
It is written from the perspective of a little slave girl in the 1700s living with her father and sister in a slave hut on a cotton plantation in North America


I live in my Pappy's hut
My name is Kizzy Clay
My older sister is Eliza
I'm six years old today

My Mammy died of fever
Eliza's ten, she cares for me
I don't know our exact address
But we live in Slavery

Pappy works in Mr John's fields
Planting cotton and rice
Yesterday, he was whipped
Which wasn't very nice

Black History Poems

The overseer is very cruel
His name is Nathaniel Black
My pappy cannot work today
He's got deep cuts on his back

Oh, I can see Mr John's little girl
Her name is Missy Rose
She lives in the Big House
And wears very nice clean clothes

She's pretty and has white skin
Her mother is also dead
But she has two aunts to care for her
She sleeps in a proper bed

Black History Poems

She has a beautiful pony
Which lives in a stable 6 feet 4
It has its own blankets
And nice clean straw

Our hut is also 6 feet 4
Two families have to share
Its very dark and we sleep on rags
Eliza says it isn't fair

Pappy says his Grandpappy's Pappy
"Was a chief before coming here
Once proud and free, he was enslaved
To live in chains.....and fear

Black History Poems

All the young strong villagers
Were forcefully taken away
Crammed into sailing ships
Bound for the USA

Many died on the way
A ship sometimes would sink
Or they died through lack of medicine
Or not enough to drink"

Pappy says his Grandpappy's Pappy
Arrived very much alive
He was a strong healthy 20 year old
He died, broken, at 35

Black History Poems

Pappy says that one day
All slaves will be free
We'll get a President who believes in it
Just you wait and see

Pappy says he has a dream
That a King will come one day
And they'll listen very carefully
To all he has to say

He says that he has a dream
That blacks and whites will live as one
Living free, in a proper house
Just like Mr John

Black History Poems

He even dreams that maybe
There will come the day
When a black man becomes the President
Of the USA

Eliza says he's crazy
Or that's how it seems
But she says when life is very hard
A man should have his dreams

Black History Poems

One day, perhaps, a little girl
Will have a story read
By her Pappy, before she goes to sleep
In her proper bed

But until then, I'll be content
What will be, will be
Nighty night I must go
There's a dream that waits for me


Jon Bratton 2009

Clink the link for more

This 'black history poems' blog page is copyright jon Bratton 2009

Thursday, 26 March 2009

Poems Containing Metaphors, Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Assonance

If you came here just for examples of onomatopoeia
click this link
Onomatopoeia Poems


Paula’s hair looks like rats’ tails .
Oh that’s a simile
Esther estimated every elevation.
That’s alliteration, clearly
Ian’s head is a shed.
Call that a metaphor, my dear
All at once, whoosh, went the wind
Love that alliterative onomatopoeia




Dave is occupied in the wash room.
Euphemism, is what’s been penned
Verily I say, O wet pet
Is an odd ode spoke to a soaked sole friend
Could that be assonance just then and can the whole
Epigram, with imagery be acrostic in some way
So that’s all the POETICAL DEVICES , there’s nothing more to say
Jon Bratton 2009
For more, click the link




This 'poems containing Metaphors, Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Assonance' blog page is copyright Jon Bratton 2009

Sunday, 22 March 2009

Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni



Here's another poem I wrote for the new website


http://www.history-for-kids.com/


which compiles (bedtime) stories, written in rhyme, about events in history as a resource not only for parents but for teachers as well



Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni




Tonight’s (Today's) story is about a queen
But not a fragile little flower
In fact a tough brave woman
The first with Girl Power



Britain has produced many warriors
Men who fought to keep Britain free
But here’s the story of Warrior Queen Boudicca,
A famous name in history



She had great intelligence
In the opinion of some
She was tall, fierce faced and harsh voiced
And had red hair, right down to her bum



She wore a large golden necklace,
And multi-coloured tunic, and cloak
She led an uprising of the tribes
Against the Roman folk


Here’s why. Her husband, the King
Promised the Romans half his wealth and land
But when the King died
Things didn’t go quite as planned



Normal Roman practice
Regarding allied kingdoms applied
The kingdom became the property of Rome
When the current King died


The Romans took everything
When they came one day
Treating nobles as slaves
And acting in a very brutal way



The Britons were appalled
And thought the Romans had cheated
Also Queen Boudicca and her Princess daughters
Were badly mistreated

When people behave badly
That simply isn’t right
And the one who feels cheated
Is ready to fight


Queen Boudicca was furious
She had never been angrier
So she created an Iceni Army
Based in East Anglia

The Trinovantes, the neighbouring tribe
Also wanted to get rid
Of the Romans, who must be punished
For the awful thing they did


So they joined forces,
Led by the Queen
In, perhaps, the biggest army
The Britons had ever seen


The Druids in Wales revolted
This made the time right
While the Roman Governor was distracted
Now was the time to fight


Boudicca’s army was successful
With victories at Colchester town
St Albans and London
Which they completely burnt down


But when the Roman Governor returned
The Britons suffered a huge defeat
Beaten by the professional Roman Army
At the Battle of Watling Street




80,000 Britons were killed
Boudicca managed to survive
But she took poison so the Romans
Couldn’t capture her alive





She lives on in our memory
A bronze statue can be seen
In London, of brave, bold Boudicca
The mighty Warrior Queen




Jon Bratton 2009




If you want to read the story as a comic book...I recomment it, click the link








If you want more poems, click the link



Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni which takes you to a poem by William Cowper


or if you're really brave try reading


Alfred Lord Tennyson

And here's another Boudicca poem


©



This 'Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni' blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009.
This material is free to use for personal use but may not be lifted in whole or part by website publishers

Saturday, 21 March 2009

Spring has Sprung...while we slept

Historically spring starts on the day of the vernal equinox, which usually occurs on the night of 20/21 March. That was last night

Here's the famous Spring in the Bronx ditty that people all over the Northern Hemisphere English speaking world say at this time of year

Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where the boidies is
The boid is on the wing,
How absoid
The wing is on the boid!

It must be assumed that this is by Author Unknown..it is not Ogden Nash as is often alleged. Listen up allegators, Ogden had all his stuff published starting with

Spring Comes To Murray Hill
Ogden Nash
which goes


I sit in an office at 244 Madison Avenue
And say to myself
You have a responsible job havenue?
Why then do you fritter away your time on this doggerel?
If you have a sore throat you can cure it by using a good goggeral etc

He doesn't mention Spring but he does say


Oh, if I only had the wings of a bird
Instead of being confined on Madison Avenue
I could soar in a jiffy to Second or Third.

It is alleged Ogden Nash wrote

Spring has newly sprung
the hills are full of grass
and along comes a billy-goat
sliding on his overcoat
down the summer pass


but I don't think so. It doesn't sound Nashy enough to me. Now this sounds Nashy

Spring is what winta
Always gozinta.

Walking along the 4th fairway at my golf club the other day 'Spring has Sprung' popped into my head, as did this

The horse is on the hoof
Nonsense, of course
The hoof is on the horse
Jon Bratton 2009

Here's another variation on the theme

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’,
I wonder where the birdie is?
There he is up in the sky,
He dropped some whitewash in my eye!
I‘m alright, I won’t cry,
I’m just glad that cows can’t fly!


~ Author Unknown ~

And another

Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is

And one more

Spring has sprung!", said the bumble bee.
"How do you know?", said the old oak tree.
"I just saw a daffodil blooming on a windy hill!"

Want more?


This 'Spring has Sprung...while we slept' blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009