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| Paul Revere's Ride |
Passed in 2006 by an 85% majority of the voters, NH Constitution Article 12-A (property rights) undergoes its first big challenge this week as Northern Pass tries to defeat HB 648, which will buttress 12-A. New Hampshire citizens are right to raise the alarm.
It is the appropriate time to publish this guest blog by Linda R. Samson, who tips her hat to the original author, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, for her inspiration.
NORTHERN PASS’ DEMISE
Listen my people and you shall heed
Of the scary sweep of corporate greed.
On one October day in two thousand ten,
No one suspected then
What a foreign power said we would need.
We said to our neighbors, “If they come
Through land or sea to bring power here,
Hang high the orange in every town
To show them our stand is clear,--
Either by land or possibly by sea;
There’s no question what our thought is to be,
Ready to go and spread the alarm
Through every New Hampshire village and farm,
For all our people to be up and to arm.”
Then we said “Beware”, with careful glance
Of Public Service and Northeast’s stance.
Just as the paper came out today,
With all the “facts” supposing to say
That Hydro Quebec, Canada’s huge power;
A dark company, making billions every hour
Across the world, everywhere far,
As a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By all its holdings on every tide.
Meanwhile, our friends, through alley and street
Wander and watch, with eager ears,
‘Till in the silence around them we hear
The whisper of evil and greed at our door,
The sound of corruption and the stamp of deceit,
And their measured march everyone fears,
Coming to our state through our border north.
Then we climbed the cliff where The Old Man did rest,
By the stone path, with careful stride,
To his lofty perch in the sky,
And startled the eagle from her nest.
Here we could see the land untouched
By massive towers and wires as such,--
Who knows what would follow as well,
More towers, turbines, lines on the swell.
Here we paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the towns
And the clean air and sun flowing over all.
Beneath in the valley lay the land,
Where our forefathers came to be free,
Surrounded by its beauty, its majesty
That we treasure, we want to keep at hand.
We need to be watchful, when we know
That, creeping in from Canada, ever so slow,
And seeming to whisper, “All is well!”
A moment only some feel the spell
Of their words, the hour, then the secret dread
Of what is really at stake ahead.
For suddenly, all our thoughts turn to
The reality of the statements they make,
What we’ll lose forever, no gain for our sake,--
A cloud of black is over our land
Creeping, seizing, lying, making its stand.
Meanwhile they’re impatient to push through,
Their points, their issues, their agenda to you.
They are opposite from us in all means
Of caring about our lives and land.
As we gaze around us it seems
That to them the mighty dollar dictates
Their actions without concern for other states,
But mostly we watch and wait to see
What their next devious move will be,
Pictures out of context-that’s been done,
Words out of place-more than one,
And lo, as we look, thinking we’ve won
A small battle, maybe to see the sun,
But then again, from some dark hole,
With a battle new, they come,----
How does this happen—it must be the mole.
A hurry of footsteps on a busy street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
A person, a power, a wolf, a shark,
Someone with intel going to meet?
That was it! And yet through the gloom
Of the sinister doings in a faraway room
The people will prevail against the doom.
And the spark ignited by the first of us
Who love our land and country,
Who leave our jobs and homes daily
To fight this intruder on our peace of mind,
They care not for our welfare,
They would strip our forests bare,
They are not of our kind.
It was twelve by the village clock
When they crossed the border down;
They came here to deceive and mock,
Our values, heritage, our very mind.
Don’t let them, they’re not our kind.
We must take a stand, our land to own.
It was eight bells and is all well??—
As we go about our daily work.
We see our children, what do we tell
Them about what we’re going to do.
Some laws were passed long ago,
It seems, to pave the way for now;
Maybe it’s too late to fix them;
Those who govern must not shirk.
It was high noon by the village clock
When we came to the House in Concord Town.
We heard many of our people talk,
Then the twitter of politicians shifting
Back and forth seemingly lifting
Us up as sacrifices to the Crown.
And are we safe as we sleep so still?
Who in the land will be first to sell,
Who in the land will fall to their will,
Coaxed by the almighty dollar bill.
Do you want history later to read
How Hydro Quebec came and took all the trees,
How landowners gave up with no fight,
Hiding, surrendering, turning tail, taking flight;
No, that’s not how history will go,
We’ll take a stand, make them know,
Standing together, united in purpose,
Always to win, never to lose.
So through the months the Orange Tide rolls,
And through the days the people press on
To every New Hampshire village and person;
A cry of defiance from righteous souls,
All voices together against the greed.
It’s for Canada’s profit, not New Hampshire’s need!
For borne on the night wind of the past
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The voice of reason and right, not greed.
And the message of honest people is clear;--
It’s our true voice, without any fear.
