Life Circles: Poems of Hope: About "You Can’t Sink a Rainbow."

Life Circles: Poems of Hope: About  "You Can't Sink a Rainbow." Life Circles by Pearldiver: Always moving forward from its source; we are that source. There are many events that occur and people that we meet in our lives which help shape positively the outcomes of future generations. Though often we don’t know at the time; how much a random act of hope, courage or craziness, will eventually shape our destinies; sometimes an outcome will be such that the world as we know it, changes forever.

You Can’t Sink a Rainbow is a tribute to special people and a little ship called The Rainbow Warrior. In 1985, she sailed into history when preparing to protest French nuclear testing in the Pacific, she was blown up at anchor in Auckland harbor in tranquil New Zealand, by French saboteurs, on direct orders of the French President of the day.. (Who is: Not worthy of mention).

The Rainbow Warrior was Greenpeace's Flagship and 25 years ago, paid the ultimate price for changing a world environment to be nuclear free as we take for granted today. The events of 10th.July 1985 along with the special people who sailed on this Greenpeace vessel, made such a change when they responded to the cowardly act of aggression against this ship of peace. This single act, along with the presence of other nuclear facilities in England and the USA, was responsible for women of the world standing up against nuclear proliferation.

So this poem of hope is a tribute to all of those courageous people and the members of Greenpeace who sailed in The Rainbow Warrior. Their selfless actions helped unite the people of the Pacific and ultimately a world generation; to make a stand against potential nuclear war. As a direct result of these events, New Zealand become a Nuclear Free Nation and gained worldwide respect for that stance. The world changed and I am proud to have experienced those days.

Today New Zealand remains nuclear free and a permanent rainbow blesses the clear, tranquil waters of Northland’s Matauri Bay. The Rainbow Warrior has completed her full life circle and now takes her lasting place as a protector of the marine life that envelopes her in the hope that she will never fade into obscurity. Please enjoy this poem of hope: They Can’t Sink a Rainbow.

Throughout the world the 25th Anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior Bombing was celebrated this year on 10th July 2010. Nowhere more so than in Auckland, New Zealand. Check the web site of Greenpeace NZ to find out what occurred.  This poem was released especially for the occasion; I hope you enjoy it.

ooooo0ooooo

So many words of grief and of sorrow, words of consolation; all delivered with hugs

Two great friends have been lost to the night; lost to an act of extreme cowardice

She was a lady of grace and had merely shuddered twice; before listing on her side

“You can’t sink a rainbow,” a determined voice cried out; “We will get these thugs.”

oo0oo

I remember the first sight; those cream sails on a rainbow

Green bow, white symbol of peace moving across the gulf

We swarmed to see this fearless dove enter our inner harbor

In small boats we sailed; beside a twin masted legend, long ago.

oo0oo

Upon her; small nations placed their hopes and more

The Rainbow Warrior served as a generation’s voice

While anchored silently in the city of sails; darkness fell

Across her and a zodiac cruising; along the city shore.

oo0oo

Soon she is pacific bound to Polynesian Moruroa Atoll

A paradise in which the French practiced future war

And enforced abandonment to a senseless nuclear race

For Greenpeace; being there for the world; was the goal.

oo0oo

Ten years earlier Greenpeace had forced an end

To all atmospheric nuclear testing; by the French

Rainbow Warrior defiance; by her very presence alone

Saved us all from toxic fallout; and the follies of mad men.

oo0oo

Amid barnacles and bubbles they set charges to her hull

Above those crew awake discussed the next few days

With no reason not to plan or feel safety in this port

Three figures in the zodiac left; so different was their goal.

oo0oo

The terrorists rendezvoused with another, waiting in a bay

She had been a spy within the local Greenpeace base

Laughing while packing their equipment; into the rented van

“C’est le guerre!” a witness heard, bomber Jean-Michel Bartelo say.

oo0oo

Close to midnight a blue flash of explosion threw the crew to the floor

With a flooding engine room, “Abandon Ship!” the Skipper cried

Photographer Fernando Pereira, ran downstairs to get his gear

Reaching his cabin; another explosion and Fernando was no more.

oo0oo

There is a moment in time when silence envelopes and rules

It comes to all of us galloping, across the waves of shock

At that definitive moment in time when your world changes

From a random act that tells us to, reach for fighting tools.

oo0oo

Perhaps the finding of a gentle man’s body, or just the sight

Of a shaken crew wrapped in blankets; a rising morning tide

Washed over worldwide opinions and a flagship’s broken back

Anger transformed into action; embracing the Greenpeace plight.

oo0oo

“A sordid act of international state-backed terrorism” said our PM

“In no way is France involved,” declared the French; but we knew

As the NZ police had captured two saboteurs returning their van

A yacht reached international waters, carrying the rest of them.

oo0oo

Gentle tides rise up to greet a warrior; the Cree legend honored yet again

It is December 1987 and Rainbow Warrior is towed north to MatauriBay

A French President is shamed for his act; yet his agents only got ten years

Kiwis now are Nuclear Free; the rainbow will live forever; in NZ; her domain.

oo0oo

Throughout the world people march for peace; one united voice against the tests

Relentless walking from Waiheke to Wellington; from the West coast to Washington

They carried the flag of the Rainbow Warrior; spreading peace across the land

Petitions, rallies, media, determined courage and hope; such faith never rests.

oo0oo

In a peace march the group protested at one of Nevada’s nuclear sites

Interference frowned upon; they were told, “Watch the bang from here!”

As the clouds of radioactive dust washed over them; they were told it’s safe

Remember those lost along the way; the legacy they left us with; is a life with rights.

oo0oo

I still see; bleached cream sails on a rainbow; sailing across my mind

Green bow, white dove and olive branch; now beneath the waves

We lived; the emotions of those days; we lived our lives in poems of hope

Sunbathed and free; her twin masts come into view; forever reminding mankind.

oooo0oooo

* “C’est le guerre!” - "It is (the) War!" *

Life Circles: Poems of Hope: About "You Can’t Sink a Rainbow."

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© Copyright 2010 Pearldiver @ Poems of Hope.com with all rights reserved.

The Rainbow Warrior though only a small ship measuring 40 metres, at full speed generated a wake long enough to encircle the world. She had been a commercial trawler before her purchase for the princely sum of $40,000 by the founders of Greenpeace. Once refitted and refurbished she approached her first trip, as effectively and passionately as she would carry on.

Her first mission was against Icelandic whaling and what Greenpeace deemed to be an unnecessary slaughter of the sea's great mammals. In Iceland the public were horrified by the campaign and more so by the methods used by Greenpeace when the Rainbow Warrior was steered between the hunter's harpoons and the targeted whales. This action effectively destroyed the hunt by preventing the whalers from harpooning any whales.

The same style of anti-whaling campaign was conducted against Spain and all daily media coverage ensured growing support for Greenpeace. In the same year, the Rainbow Warrior was sent to intercept a chartered English ship that had been secretly polluting our oceans by dumping tons of live toxic radioactive waste. When caught by the Rainbow Warrior attempting to dump yet another load, the idea doing so, was abandoned to the ground swell of public opinion. Her next mission was equally successful as the Rainbow Warrior and crew used the public outcry and their courage to halt the slaughter of thousands of Grey Seals in and around the Orkney Islands.

In 1979 the Rainbow Warrior headed back to confront the whalers in the Icelandic waters but now the stakes had been raised. Thewhalersshowed their anger this time by firing their harpoons over the heads of the crew, in hope that they would break off the protest. In yet another protest against whaling by Iceland the Rainbow Warrior and her crew were boarded and illegally arrested. This action served to raise the stakes yet again.

In 1980 the Rainbow Warrior took her protest action directly to France and in her opposition to the shipped delivery of nuclear radioactive waste from Japan, the French ensured that any campaign against them was going to be a bitter one. Raising the stakes yet again this time it was a French naval vessel that did so, when it intentionally rammed her. Having proven her point, the Rainbow Warrior was off again to the North Sea and back to blockading another shipload of chemical waste, intended for dumping. That done it was back to Spain and another round with the Spanish whalers, who were no less docile than their Icelandic colleagues.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence was again the venue for her in 1982. She was back for a campaign to stop the killing of baby seals. In an all out approach by Greenpeace this seal campaign would prove to be very successful even though several Rainbow Warrior crew members were arrested. The effort and resulting media attention forced the EEC to announce an immediate international ban on the importing seal pup skins. Victory for Greenpeace and the organisation's tireless team; the industry had been given a kiss of death.

The little ship sailed to Peru and found the people there, happy to follow the rising number of nations which comprehensively banned whaling. The power of the Rainbow was growing and no shortage of volunteers meant Greenpeace could fight on numerous fronts, without depleting her human reserves. Then in 1983, the Rainbow Warrior sailed into the Bering Sea and ran headlong into the then superpower Russia. She was there to tackle the problem of raping the oceans with the use of endless drift nets.

She documented and the crew dealt with the issue of deep sea salmon drift nets, showing the world for the first time this disgusting practice. Off the Russian coast the crew found and recorded evidence of illegal Russian whaling out of Siberia. The whole crew were arrested by Russian authorities, but after a media leak that created a huge public outcry, they were freed. Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior and her crew were here to stay.

When the Rainbow Warrior arrived in Auckland, New Zealand in July 1985, she had only recently completed extensive panel beating, refitting and maintenance. She was good to go and would have, had the events of 10th. July 1985 not occurred. We are; as people of the free world; indebted to those who were referred to as Eco-Terrorists and the Rainbows that they have introduced us to.

If you travel to New Zealand and wish to visit a special place called Matauri Bay in Northland, you will find this amazing ship has over 25 years begun to turn into an amazing reef. She is part of New Zealand now and the people of that land know how much she changed our lives. Come dive this peace of history, believe me you will find many locals who will come with you; including the author.

To each crew member of the Rainbow Warrior 2, a driving force to the achievement of any trip is the memory of Fernando Pereira and those who lived through that world shattering night of 10th. July 1985. She was launched on the 10th. July 1989 exactly four years to that day. The catch cry of 'You Can't Sink a Rainbow' rings true and has acted as testimony to the courage and determination of Greenpeace and the organisations followers throughout the years.

The global issues may well have changed today; but Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior and the hundreds of special people who have and do collectively believe and act for the betterment of our environment; in my view, shows how truly wonderful the human spirit can be and aspire to. If you believe that you can change the world; then join or contribute to the cause that has; with a few good people, shown so many what it is to truly believe and to act.

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