Sir Ed (Hero, god and man)    (intro)

 

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1.    I still remember back in time        when I was just a lad of nine,

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    when you and Tenzing touched the sky     and climbed atop the world.

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    It soon became my boyhood dream       to visit places yet unseen,

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    and climb into those mountains high        with banners to unfurl.

 

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    As I grew my dreams did, too,  

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    you were my hero through and through,

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    I followed your adventures, too,        around the planet wide.

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    From Everest to Makalu,        across the Antarctic, too,

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    you were my inspiration,        my mentor and my guide.

 

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    Sir Ed  to me you were a hero.

 

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2.    When Tashi was a boy of ten,       he still recalls the moment when

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    you strode into his village high         where Everest’s in sight.

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    With hammer, nails, and saw and rule

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    you set to work and built a school,

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    so he could start to join the world        and learn to read and write.

 

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    Hospitals and water schemes,         these were only things of dreams,

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    among the Sherpa people then,         for poverty was rife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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    As Chomalungma’s peak stood high, 

 

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    “The Mother Goddess in the sky”,

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    a mortal god had come to help them       lead a better life.

 

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    Sir Ed, to me you were a hero,

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    Sir Ed, in Nepal you were a god.

 

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3.     And so at last I came to stay        in your fair country far away,

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    and loved the place that taught you all the values you stood for.

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    Honest and dependable,       adventurous, yet humble,

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    a family man, a statesman, a Kiwi to the core.

 

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    I climbed upon those mountains, too       that had so inspired you

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    from that first day on Olivier        and into Mount Cook cloud.

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    I traced your path across Nepal,       admired what you had done for all.

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    New Zealand ’s inspiration,         you made this nation proud.

 

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    Sir Ed, to me you were a hero,

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    Sir Ed, in Nepal you were a god.

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    Sir Ed, in your own land, just a very special man,

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    who made the world much better where you trod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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    Burra Sahib, though you’ve gone,     we’ll see your work is carried on,

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    what you achieved and what you’ve done,       wasn’t all in vain.

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    I hope you’re on the summit now,        climbing just above the cloud

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    with Tenzing on the rope with you,        relayed once again.

 

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    Sir Ed, to me you are a hero,

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    Sir Ed, in Nepal you are a god.

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    Sir Ed, in your own land, just a very special man

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    who made the world much better where you trod.

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    A hero, an honest man, a god.

 

    (Martin Curtis)