Refugees of Reason

Native Child of Glasgow

Far away, from this dark, half frozen land,
across the great, cold abyss called Atlantic,
upon the Clyde, past antique and rusted shipyards,
the eternal ghosts of Govan and Partick startled
by the last dramatic, terrible long-drawn breaths
of a native child. Born and bread of these streets,
she was raised in poverty and too young forced
to toil grimly against hunger and adversity, and
dodge the Luftwaffe bombs along Clydebank.
And with determination and Scottish pride,
not unlike many who worked the yards and ships
(the engine that fueled a city for a hundred years),
she chose to leave this ancient city of the lowlands;
doon the waters of a storied river and thru the firth,
she traveled to a distant and unknown future,
towards a destiny only partly of her making.
Courageously she fled, overcoming her fears,
to land in Montreal but compelled to continue,
drawn west, a 20th century explorer, she found
family, farm and friends, along the Qu'Appelle;
giving much, receiving much, she made her life,
and her life made her. She loved her life, and
this she passed down to 'kith and kin' this lass
from the old country loved by all she touched.

Now the shipyards along the quay are mostly quiet;
the voices of those noble shipyard workers have
faded into the mist of a grand and distant past;
her keen mind is settled now, at rest, and her voice
joins those of the green hills and blue heather.

~ gtk