Immigrants

A view from another century

Immigrants – TSS Captain Cook

Where on earth are we going?
A new land far away
A better life for us he says
God help me get through this day.

Fragile paper streamers
Hold all that is dear to me
Soon to snap and break away
Taking us over the sea.

A ship full of hopeful faces
Laughing and talking too loud
Scared and frightened just like me
But looking so sure and so proud.

I’ve lived all my life in one street
I knew the bricks, the tiles
What is there now before me
After a journey of twelve thousand miles?

Where are the towns and the cities
It’s all so very unclear
A husband and two children
I feel it’s all too much to bear.

But our children need a future
In which they have a voice
Alongside other cultures
An opportunity for choice.

So I will stand beside him
As we make a better life
For he is a brave new immigrant
And I am his partner – his wife.

Anon