From Where

15th April 2018

Here are some ramblings in response to Origens , by Imelda Maguire:

From Where Do I Come

I come from the edge of the city,

that suburban, semi-detached, quiet place on the hill,

from a father who was orphaned before he could speak, 

who remembered the bomb shelters, the ration books.

From a father who was himself evacuated during the war.

I come from that "we worked hard to get here"  place.

My father proud to have had an education, 

proud to have become, "blue collar"

to have left the trowel behind.

I come from that stock of women

who made more of what they were given,

who rose  from the soil of their ancestors. 

From a mother who ran, ran barefoot 

from  want and hunger.

Who spent her life adding to her funds,

working hard for her money, saving her money,

afraid somehow, it might evaporate.

I come from that country of alone, 

where all physical needs were cared for 

but where, my heart was barren wasteland,

where the hope of my father hung round my neck

a noose strangling my own true longing. 

But

I come from a family of fighters 

Chains are loosened and the battle goes on