The Emigrant

In fifty-six I left the farm when John had claimed his wife,
It could not sustain two families and they deserved a chance in life.
With my passage for Australia paid, across the trackless main,
I lace my boots, pack up my bag and march to board the train.

The sights etched on my memory bank as across our yard I pace,
Painted doors and whitewashed walls, no slate out of its place.
Thorn hedges which enclose the fields all laid and trimmed with care,
With stacks all thatched, and gates all hung, their prospects augur fair.

I had not been to Douglas much, it seemed both strange and far,
Now aboard an ocean greyhound, we ship through Panama.
The antipodes they called this place, still I liked it truth to tell,
The work was hard and lonely, but they paid us prompt and well

I fell in with good company, for they knew I would not shirk
We had to be prepared to move, to go where there was work
Ascending into management, fortunes breeze had filled my sails.
Now partner in a trucking firm in the state of New South Wales.

I need not dwell on family life; that tale has oft been told.
With contentment, pride and worry all, only now I’m getting old
Sarah’s gone, the children flown, they said you’re free to roam,
When the letter came from Jonathan to summon me back home

A taxi dropped me at the lane, where our front gate had been
I might have wept to see unfurl so drear and dismal scene
Straggled thorn, one roof collapsed, a flaking whitewashed wall,
The reek of third World poverty, desperations sombre pall.

We knew some good years John explained, since you took your leave,
But things have gone from bad to worse; “Now that I can believe.”
Small farmers are not needed here; you’re the answer to our prayers,
This place is worth a million pounds, and you still own half shares.

It maybe worth a million pounds, yet we can’t afford repairs.

When the farm went up for auction it made that much and more,
They insist that I must take a fifth when again I quit this shore
Go in good health said Jonathan and stand your mates some rounds,
I’m sure that we will manage on nine hundred thousand pounds.

I guess that they can rub along on nine hundred thousand pounds.

David Kelly