Songs, Chants, Cheers

	A Poem of Hope

Ready, Ready, Paddles Up

Ready, Ready, Paddles Up
Dig Those Paddles Deep
We're the Warriors of Hope
and we could Paddle in our Sleep

We Paddle in our Sweaters
We Paddle in our Touques
We Paddle in our Mittens, we even
Paddle in our Boots

We Paddle in the Morning
at the YMCA Pool
We Paddle in the Evening
on the Lake when it is Cool

We Paddle in the Springtime
When the Frost is on the Ground
We Paddle in the Autumn
When the Leaves are Tumbling Down

We Paddle in the Summer
In our little Lederhosen
and we'd Paddle in the Winter
if the Water wasn't Frozen.

Ready, Ready, Paddles Up
Dig those Paddles Deep
We're the Warriors of Hope
and we could Paddle in our Sleep.

Tune: Clementine

In a dugout on the water
excavating with her oar
sat a warrior, not a voyeur
with her dragon paddling core.

Light the boat and like a fairy
as its head bobbed off the shore,
wearing paint dots on the wood knots,
dragon eyes saw to the chore.

Drove her paddle thru the water,
did the warrior, rain or shine,
but the boat rocked with each wave's knock
and she fell into the brine.

So the moral of this story:
If you sit inside a boat,
wear a jacket as you tack it
and you'll all be sure to float!

tune: Stewball

Old Janey is a raceboat,
and I wish she were mine.
She always drinks water,
she never drinks wine.

Her dragon head bobs some,
as she plows thru the brine,
she sure gets the job done,
she gets to the line.

Her paddlers are zany,
they're warriors of hope.
What life throws to many
they catch and they cope.

So away up yonder,
ahead of the pack,
goes a-prancing and a-dancing
a dragon boat's back!

tune: Jingle Bells

Paddling on a lake,
in a crew of twenty-two,
O'er each wave and wake,
singing as we do.

Beats on drum keep time,
making spirits bright,
O, what fun it is to chime
with a dragon boat in flight!

O, Dragon Boat, Dragon Boat,
Drag with all your might!
O, what fun it is to chime
with a dragon boat in flight!

O, Dragon Boat, Dragon Boat,
Drag with all your might!
O, what fun it is to chime
with a dragon boat in flight!

tune: "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

She slid into the lake one day,
with hope in every grain.
Her dragon head would nod and say,
"I'm not so very plain.
I'll carry you thru thick and thin,
down every racing lane,
and you can call me Jane."

Jane's a friend we'll have forever!
Sun or wind or nasty weather!
Help to keep us all together
as we go paddling on!