OUR LAND OF SUN AND SEAS By George Carlton Sampson
Featuring: Eastern Performing Arts Fraternity, Alternative Quartet, Dane Gulston, Maxine Greaves, Jesse Rahaman, Daniel De-Cranie-Pierre, John Thomas, Tevin Gall, Issac Blackman and Kizzy Ruiz.
Produced by: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Send down Thy blessings on our land, O God, and make us free, Let love and wisdom lead our hearts to dwell in unity, to dwell in unity!
Our land of sun and seas, our beauteous flowering trees Our hills, our rills, our songbird trills Our fields, our people free, we offer God to Thee! Improve our Arts, make pure our hearts to dwell in unity.
Spoken:Let us always be able to say with the psalmist: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
Let mighty nations far and near, revere our nation small May we show forth to countries great, a peace surpassing all A peace surpassing all.
May long our heroes last, who gave this nation birth To the Church, to the State, all small and great In wisdom hold them all and never let them fall.
Improve our Arts, make pure our hearts to dwell in unity Improve our Arts, make pure our hearts to dwell in unity O never let them fall. Amen
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
Spoken: I was born in the year 1962 and my father at the time, Dr. Eric Williams, attempted to instill the principles and values of Discipline, Tolerance and Production within me. And though I may not have followed through entirely with those ideals, I am still learning.
Only fifty years old...
So why you losing patience with me when I now start this journey? Just fifty years, only fifty years old It's my Golden Jubilee, forged from the love of liberty I am fifty years, only fifty years old There is so much to be thankful for No racial strife or no civil war No neighbouring troops try attack my shore When you look at me, potential for law, but like you ent sure?
[Bear with me] Bigger nations are in crisis [Bear with me] My development is a process [Bear with me] It's our welfare, so show some interest [Bear with me] Our aim now is social justice.
I'm begging you, exercise some restraint All the negative pictures, no need to paint... no, no! 'Cause I am not your enemy, work along with me and you will see We'll be on the road to prosperity.
Only fifty years old...
When compared to Iraq and them, I just have minor problem In fifty years, only fifty years old In the Caribbean, a gem, so don't be quick to condemn Fifty years, only fifty years old In the world out there, I'm still young at heart Though I may not have the perfect start If each of you were to play your part Knowledge to this world, we could impart, so start thinking smart.
[Bear with me] Tolerance is one of we watchwords [Bear with me] So to give up now would be absurd [Bear with me] Doh feel production on a go slow [Bear with me] Dem who talking that, well, they don't know.
I'm begging you, exercise some restraint All the negative pictures, no need to paint... no, no! I am not your enemy, work along with me and you will see We'll be on the road to prosperity.
Only fifty years old. I now start to live.
Some will paint a dismal portrait and don't appreciate I'm just fifty years, only fifty years old Some would even exaggerate, saying that I deteriorate In just fifty years, only fifty years old We founding fathers turning in their grave To see at times the way you behave The sacrifices, the freedom they gave But like in we mind we still enslaved in we lil enclave.
[Bear with me] In our destiny we must have faith [Bear with me] 'Cause I am your land, I'm your estate [Bear with me] It's not good enough to sing my anthem [Bear with me] But examine the words and live by them.
I'm begging you, exercise some restraint All the negative pictures, no need to paint 'Cause I am not your enemy, work along with me and you will see, You will see, you will see, you will see... We'll be on the road to prosperity.
Spoken:All the negativity, you know sometimes I, as Trinbago, does forget how blessed I am? Come nah man!
Only fifty years old...only fifty.
So come and join the celebration of this model nation In fifty years, only fifty years old Your elders' contribution, use it as motivation In just fifty years, only fifty years old Some fought for Independence are still around So to you, I dedicate this song To Mama Trinbago, you all belong Your efforts make peace in my land abound, so keep standing strong and...
[Bear with me] Kaiso and pan is we creation [Bear with me] Blessed with talent and innovation [Bear with me] Penny and Wendy, they are home grown [Bear with me] Their exploits on stage, they are well known.
I'm begging you, exercise some restraint All the negative pictures, no need to paint, no, no! 'Cause I am not your enemy, work along with me and you will see We'll be on the road to prosperity.
Only fifty! People, I want you to bear with me, ey ey, I want you to come and join with me.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
Thank you for this inspiring performance, Chucky Gordon, and congratulations on winning the Lord Brynner 50th Anniversary Independence Calypso Competition. I happen to agree with you. Fifty years is at most about two and a half generations. We have to have patience with our nation because we must have patience with ourselves.
Readers, please do not think that I am not as dismayed as you are by the troubles that we are seeing. I am trying to refrain from commenting on these and the general baptism by caca to which we are being treated. I try to look past the things that trouble to find the good because that is my mission but I am well aware of the mischief and worse than that. There are other Trinbagonians who man the ramparts and are vigilant and vocal. I applaud them. I still believe, however, that more effort is put into publicising the bad than is invested in announcing the good news and that this imbalance helps to nurture a vicious cycle. For those who have the eyes to see danger, it is not easy to have to stare wickedness in the face, to be driven to sound the alarm again and again. For those who seek out the good, it is not always easy to keep the faith, to keep a rhythm going and a song of praise on our lips but we do whatever the Spirit moves us to do for the good of each other and this nation.
Leader, your promise was that you would do better. If, at this point in time, you, like the song above, need to ask us in good faith to bear with you, and to assure us that you have every intention of doing right by this nation, then do so.
2012 is our national Jubilee, a time of celebration, to recount the blessings of the past and to look forward to all the good ahead. It crossed my mind that if we all observed Mosaic law and the ancient traditions of those of the Jewish and Christian faiths, a more generous Section 34 might have been acceptable to many more as a way to celebrate the Jubilee - the year of remission or universal pardon:
Anni favor jubilaei Poenarum laxat debitum, Post peccatorum vomitum Et cessandi propositum. Currant passim omnes rei. Pro mercede regnum Dei Levi patet expositum.
The blessing of the year of jubilee releases the obligation of punishments. After sinners have been purged, the cause against them ends. All the guilty go free by the mercy of God's kingdom, as set forth in the law of Levi.
Free ALL then! Make the pardon universal. Free the platinum collar criminals, the white and the blue. Empty the jails and the courtrooms. Let there be rejoicing in the ghettos and in the gated communities. As each tier broke the law according to their means, let them celebrate according to their means from puncheon to Dom Pérignon. Commit each freed citizen according to their means to perform a significant act of charity of benefit to the nation. Announce to the nation and to the world that we are starting afresh in this year of Jubilee.
Instead, why do so many of us see this Section 34 as something that was tailored and timed for the highly favoured and merely collateral benefit for the rest?
"[Bear with me] In our destiny we must have faith [Bear with me] 'Cause I am your land, I'm your estate [Bear with me] It's not good enough to sing my anthem [Bear with me] But examine the words and live by them."
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation Blessed be my beautiful people Blessed be the day of our awakening Blessed is my country Blessed are her patient hills.
Lord, Please walk beside me through this day. Clear the heavy air with the lightness of Your Presence. Guide my hands and steady my heart that I may give comfort when I cannot give hope, that I may give relief when I do not have a cure, and that I may radiate Your healing peace when the limits of science, time, and the human body overwhelm us all. Amen
Source
Sáncte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in proélio, cóntra nequítiam et insídias diáboli ésto præsídium. Ímperet ílli Déus, súpplices deprecámur: tuque, prínceps milítiæ cæléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in múndo, divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Ámen
