Generations have stood

Generations have stood

Upon this land

Worked it

Loam and stone

Tarried in warm companionship

Gazed at the lay of it

The wonder of their toil

The shaping of their future

With hoe and plough

As the sea shimmered in defiance

Calling out to them

Pulling at the bond

Of man and land

Tales of greener pastures

Carried home by sailors

Ships laden with finery, tea and spices

Sons would talk of leaving

Dreaming of another life

In a new-found land

Across the sea

Where there was big money

To be made

For the enterprising soul

Unafraid of change.

So many farmers

Weathered fishermen

Left to rue the day

Parting, sullied by ill-will

There is such little comfort

In atonement

Abandonment carried as a burden

Curving the spine

Turning fathers into relics

Easter Islanders

Lost in contemplation

Of the old days

Before new horizons

Stole their children away