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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

WAY DOWN DEMERARA

HYMN FOR GUYANA’S CHILDREN
Valerie Rodway
With humble hearts and heads bowed down
In thanks for each new day of toil
We kneel before Thine altar, Lord
The children of Guyana’s soil.

Great is the task that Thou hast given:
Thy will to show, Thy truth to find:
To teach ourselves that we are one
In thy great Universal mind.

But not in vain we’ll strive to build
A new Guyana great and free;
A land of glory and of hope,
A land of love and unity.

O children of Guyana, rise,
Rise up and sing with happy tears:
And bless the land that gave you birth,
And vow to serve her through the years.

O BEAUTIFUL GUYANA
Valerie Rodway
O beautiful Guyana
O my lovely native land
More dear to me than all the world
Thy sea-washed, sun-kissed strand
Or down upon the borders
Looking out upon the deep
The great Atlantic
Blown into a fury, or asleep.
At morn, at noon - or better
In the crimson sunset’s glow
I love thee, Oh I love thee.

THE SONG OF GUYANA’S CHILDREN
W. Hawley-Bryant
Born in the land of the mighty Roraima,
Land of great rivers and far stretching sea;
So like the mountain, the sea and the river
Great, wide and deep in our lives would we be;

Chorus:
Onward, upward, may we ever go
Day by day in strength and beauty grow,
Till at length we each of us may show,
What Guyana’s sons and daughters can be.

Born in the land of Kaieteur’s shining splendour
Land of the palm tree, the croton and fern,
We would possess all the virtues and graces,
We all the glory of goodness would learn.

Born in the land where men sought El Dorado,
Land of the Diamond and bright shining gold,
We would build up by our faith, love and labour,
God’s golden city which never grows old.

 Thus to the land which to us God has given
May our young lives bring a gift rich and rare,
Thus, as we grow, may the worth of Guyana
Shine with a glory beyond all compare.

MY GUYANA, ELDORADO
My Guyana, Eldorado
Best of all the world to me
In my heart where’er I wander
Memory enshrineth thee;
All my hopes and aspirations,
All my longings only tie
Everlasting bonds around us
As the fleeting years roll by.
My Guyana, time’s unfolding
More and more thy destiny,
To redeem in lasting splendour
All the years had lost to thee;
And the dawning of thy glory
O’er the long long night is cast
O arise triumphant, glorious,
From the ashes of the past.
O arise, triumphant, glorious,
From the ashes of the past.

WAY DOWN DEMERARA
R.C.G. Potter
When your ship has passed the islands and the blue sea turns to brown,
And the leadsman calls ‘Five Fathoms’ when he casts the lead-line down,
And you see a long flat coastland and a smokeless wooden town,
You can reckon you are nearing Demerara.
Demerara, Demerara, you can reckon you are nearing Demerara.

When you’re wakened in the morning by a cheerful kiskadee,
And you see a sackiwinki by a mukka mukka tree,
And the very homely features of the slimy manatee,
You can know that you are down in Demerara.
Demerara, Demerara, you can know that you are down in Demerara.

When you spot an alligator who is waiting for a feed,
And observe a salempenta (of the iguana breed),
And you dodge the marabunta (ripe for any evil deed),
You are somewhere, without doubt, in Demerara.
Demerara, Demerara, you are somewhere, without doubt, in Demerara.

When you sail up mighty rivers and you scarcely glimpse a hill,
And you see the great Kaieteur (which perhaps you never will),
When you pay your fare in shillings, through it’s dollars on the bill,
You will boast that you’re at home in Demerara.
Demerara, Demerara, you will boast that you’re at home in Demerara.

GUYANA THE FREE
Valerie Rodway
Guyana, Guyana, this fair land of ours
Has broken the bondage of far distant powers,
We love you Guyana from high land to sea,
And pray God make worthy your children to be.

Chorus:
All hail to Guyana, our country now free,
One people, one nation, one destiny,
We pledge every effort, we’ll cherish this earth
And make here a paradise - Land of our birth.

No rich El Dorado has ever been found
Though many have ended their lives on this ground,
Our labour in factory, in office and field
Will give us the wealth and the full harvest’s yield.

With purpose and vigour we’ll carve our own fate
Unmoved by distraction, prejudice and hate,
Together we’ll strive for our new nation’s goal,
Inspired by goodwill, a kinship of soul.

Song of the Republic
Words by Cleveland W. Hamilton
Music by Frank Daniels

From Pakaraima’s peaks of pow’r
To Courentyne’s lush sands,
Her children pledge each faithful hour
To guard Guyana’s lands.
To foil the shock of rude invader
Who’d violate her earth,
To cherish and defend forever
The State that gave them birth.

We’ll forge a nation’s might soul
Construct a nation’s frame;
Freedom our everlasting goal,
Courage and truth our aim,
Unyielding in our quest for peace
Like ancient heroes brave,
To strive and strive and never cease
With Strength beyond the slave.

Guyana, climb the glorious perch
To fame, prosperity;
Join in the universal search
For world-wide comity.
Your people what soe’er their breed
Their hue or quality,
With one firm never changing creed
The nation’s unity.

The National Anthem of Guyana
Words by A. L. Luker
Music by R. C. G. Potter
Dear land of Guyana, of rivers and plains,
Made rich by the sunshine, and lush by the rains,
Set gem-like and fair between mounts and sea-
Your children salute you. dear land of the free.

Green land of Guyana, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsman and free, laid their bones on your shore,
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one mother, Guyana the free

Great land of Guyana, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains,
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see -
One Land of six peoples, united and free.

Dear Land of Guyana, to you will we give
Our homage, our service each day that we live;
God grant you, great Mother, and make us to be
More worthy our heritage - land of the free.







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