The following is a poem written by Gaye Hemsley about the stranding of the 236m container vessel Rena on the Astrolabe Reef on October 5.

Email your photos, poems, letters to the editor and other works about the Rena issue to newsroom@thesun.co.nz

A day we'll not forget

By Gaye Hemsley

I woke up on my birthday
When Rena grounded on the reef.
It was the captain's birthday.
Now our bay is feeling grief.

When Rena grounded on the reef.
The scenes on our screens
Showing devastation on our beaches
Was beyond our belief.

It was the captain's birthday.
A day he'll not forget
He left in charge his first mate.
A decision he'll regret.

Now our bay is feeling grief.
A massive clean up is underway.
Rena owners are responsible.
Unfortunately, we'll all have to pay.

Authors Note: I like to write poetry about events that happen in my life. In the past 18 months so many disasters have happened in our lovely country. This latest one took me a while to put my fingers on the keyboard. I chose to write my poem in retourne form which is:
The retourne consists of four quatrains with eight syllable lines. Rhyming is optional. The defining characteristic is that the second line of the first quatrain becomes the first line of the second verse, and the third line of the first quatrain becomes the first line of the third verse, until finally, the fourth line of the first quatrain functions as the first line of the fourth verse.