Eliza Junor, born 1804, Demerara, died Fortrose, 1861; daughter of Hugh Junor, slave owner from the Black Isle, and an unknown mother, probably a slave, or a ‘free coloured’ woman. Died Fortrose, 1861; won a prize for penmanship at Fortrose Academy. I’ve learned my letters well – my copperplate masts and sailsflow across the page, […]
Revising my visa essay,
applying for three more years
here, I read my own scribbled words
Bhithinn nam dhotair, bheirinn leigheas ’son do phian,
/ bhithinn nam thidsear, chuirinn faclan air do mhiann,
/ bhithinn nam bhràthair athair piuthar màthair…
Like tweed like pearls
/ like fire like wood
/ like loss like Listen with Mother with me
/
/ Like prayer like water
/ like a Scots laird’s…
/ My dainty lass, lay you the blame
/ Upon the richtfu’ heid;
/ ‘Twas daft ill-luck that bigg’d yer hame
/ …
We came from our own country in a red room
/ which fell through the fields, our mother singing
/ our father’s name to…
Exile I am, for to the last, I carry in my
/ heart the oak groves of Derry with their
/ white angels…
They came from the south
/ holding the sun in their right hand
/ like an object of worship,
/ crossed the Mohokare into the mountains,
/ leather…
Elle vient de si loin
/ Tagalakoy
/ Elle marche pieds nus
/ Tagalakoy
/ Elle défie la chaleur
/ Tagalakoy
/ Elle vient de si loin
/ Elle défie la faim
/ Tagalakoy
/
/ Tagalakoy ! Tagalakoy…
Such a small country, spread on an isthmus
/ where the sky is clearer, the sun brighter;
/ all your music echoes within me,…
They want me to write a poem
/ a poem like the natives write
/ about sand and sea and sunshine
/ and exotica like that.
/
/ They…
I give you
/ these baskets and ’ei
/ made by my hands
/ in the old style
/ from plastic packing strips
/ my way of keeping alive those…
