Lost
To quote my distant friend Imran MacLeod,
‘A man with no culture has no identity.’
The last I heard of him was, he was off
To the Himalayas.
He had a very confused childhood.
Father was Scottish,
Mother Pakistani.
They’d always be arguing over many things
Concerning him.
One was religion.
Father wanted him brought up
A Catholic; mother wanted a Muslim.
Was the only boy on our street who went
To mosque on Fridays and chapel on Sundays.
But in the mountains
God’s sure to find him.
About this poem
This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2006. Eight poetry postcards are published each year by the Scottish Poetry Library to celebrate National Poetry Day and are distributed throughout Scotland to schools, libraries and other venues. The theme for 2006 was dreams. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages, where you’ll also find resources to go with the poems.
