My Poetry

LIKE THREADS IN A LACE

Our life is a journey that we travel through
Meeting and leaving many as we do
People and places including where we grew
As children of country that we once belonged to

It was our choice to leave our own land
And reach out to Heaven for a helping hand
As we get settled in our new found land
Integrating ourselves and joining the band

It is nice to integrate in the harmony
And enrich the land with diversity
Of culture we bring with such ceremony
As we celebrate our festivity

As plants uprooted from original ground
People too feel the shock of new found
Land, until they feel that they can be proud
Citizens and plough back to enrich new ground

As a group or as individuals we all can do
Our part to enrich and bear new fruits too
That can be enjoyed by the citizens of two
Countries that link through this union so true

The culture and traditions we have are so rich
They need to be nurtured and kept ready to switch
As and when needed to show and enrich
The place we now call home while on or off pitch

As a group that is committed to enrich this place
Let us all now unite irrespective of race
And creed that we follow in our own personal ways
Yet blend in the beauty like threads in a lace

let us blend in the beauty, like threads in a lace

Anne Perera© 15 August 1998

A GREAT CUP OF TEA

Nothing in the world can match a great cup of Tea
Made from the leaves of the Camellia tree
Grown on the slopes which are beautiful to see
In the Central Sri Lanka surrounded by sea

Though the country name changed the Tea is the same
Known around the world, ‘cos Ceylon is the name
Loved by so many great people of fame
Oh how I wish I can sip like a Dame

So relaxed do I feel when I sit down to sip
A cup so divine, of Tea on my lip
The aroma and flavour as my cup when I slip
Between my lips with a light gentle grip

Some people like it with sugar and the milk
Hot is more common though some like it chilled
Especially as black and so light as the silk
In a fine China cup, with a gracious rim gild

The benefits of health that Tea seems to kick
Are becoming well known as journals we pick
Of Health and Nutrition, which form a great nick
In well-being of people who hate to be sick

The tannin of the tea can be a great one to slim
while polyphenols act as the anti-oxidant rim
That protect from the illnesses that make people dim
Of the great future, with part time in gym

Let us all enjoy a great cup of Tea
Nothing like Dilmah, unblended and free
From anything that distracts but fresh as can be
Coming from the island surrounded by sea.

There is nothing in the world that can match a great cup of tea ....

Anne Perera© - 18 June 1998

THE FOOD WE EAT

The food that we eat is a great cocktail we know
Of nutrients which exist as both high and so low
Depending on the needs they will vary as we grow
We select these to suit us with less or with more

Proteins are needed for body building they say
Babies depend on mum’s milk as their way
As adults we need proteins for repair and delay
The loss of our muscles as healthy we stay

CHO stands for carbohydrates, both types
Simple and complex where each one complies
Where sugar, starch or fiber with energy supplies
For all of our work as day to day comprise

The fats as we know there are the good and the bad
Depending on acid that they form can be clad
Into saturated, mono and poly-unsaturated fad
They give too many calories that make us not glad

Next group of nutrients is vitamins and more
A D E K are fat soluble and so
Need fats to supply them while the other group is more
Soluble in water as the C and B grow

B complex vitamins have names of their own
Thiamin, riboflavin and niacin so on
Pantothenate, pyridoxin and folacin goes on
The twelfth one is cyanocobalamin on its own

Minerals are many and they vary a lot
Calcium protects teeth and bones from being rot
Iron as we know makes our blood red, if not,
We end up as anemic and a lethargic lot

Water is also very important for us
As there are many functions that only it does
Excrete our waste through our kidneys no fuss
Cleansing our system and hydrating it does

We need all these nutrients every day of our life
Cereal, fruit and ‘veggies’ plus meat cut with knife
Cooked into a meal by dear husband or wife
With variety, moderation and enjoyment of life!

.........Variety, moderation and enjoyment......

Anne Perera 24 November 2000