St Barthélemy

So, 24 August and it’s St Barthélemy Day—also known as St Barts, for those a little more casual. St Barts? Why the French collectivity in the Caribbean. They use the Euro, you know. Since it’s meant to be one of those “playground for the rich and famous” type places, I imagine the Euro suits them just fine. Oh, and it was Swedish for a while, though it started French. The Swedish legacy? Well, the main town on the island is Gustavia, obviously named after King Gustav (in this case, the third).

You know, there’s less than 10,000 people on Saint Barthélemy. It’s nice that they still get a day. Unlike a lot of other areas in the Caribbean, the white population is a large majority.

If you go snorkelling, you can probably see green sea turtles. I want to see green sea turtles.

In my tours of world poetry I found the oral poem “My Deery Honey,” recorded in 1805 by Samuel Augustus Matthews when he visited St Bartholomew, as it was known to the English.


My Deery Honey

Shatterday nite aucung lau town,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Run round de lebin street,
     Chan fine my deery honey, 
Look behind me guaba bush,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Vosh me pot, au vosh um cleam,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Au put in paze, au put in pole,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Au bine me pot, au bine um sweet,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Au sweep me ouse, au sweep um clean,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Au clean me knife, au clean um shine,
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Au mek me bed, au mek um soff
     Chan fine my deery honey,
Au mek um up, au shek um up,
     Chan fine my deery honey.