Giving Away My Daughter 2

The poem 'I Gave Away My Little Girl' formed in my head over 2 or 3 days before I typed it up late one morning. That afternoon I was rubbing down and re-staining the window frames at the top of the house when the following poem sprung into my head. I was thinking about how lucky we are in this country and what my daughter's situation would have been like in a completely different country and culture.

I SOLD MY LITTLE GIRL TO A STRANGER

I sold my little girl to a stranger
I didn’t really want to
But we needed the money for food

I sold my little girl to a stranger
She couldn’t get married
As I couldn’t afford a dowry

I sold my little girl to a stranger
I needed to keep my sons
As boys are strong
And can work our fields

I sold my little girl to a stranger
Even though I love her.

I sold my little girl to a stranger
To stop the rest of us starving.

I sold my little girl to a stranger
He said he would look after her
But we haven’t heard from her since

I sold my little girl to a stranger
And they tell me now
He is a sex trader.

I sold my little girl to a stranger
My heart is broken.

Mountains

This evening at church we were looking at Hebrews 12 and the place of the mountain in Christian life and my mind went back to my Grandmother who was born and brought up in Chile. She told me that she arrived in the UK in 1919 and spent the entire journey by train from Liverpool to London thinking it must be a foggy day as she couldn't see the mountains. Of course in Chile you are never far from the Andes and she had never experienced a flat land like Britain. This set my mind racing and I wrote the following poem.

Where Are The Mountains?

I looked and looked but couldn't see the mountains,
Your mountains.
'It must be misty' I said 'so the mountains are hidden,
I'll see them tomorrow - your mountains'
Then they told me 'There are no mountains'
And I wondered at how this could be.
I walked and lived in the valleys with no mountains
But still I looked up in case I saw them.
Then, one day, you showed me your mountains.
Mountains that are always there
Where we can meet with you.
Now I walk in the valleys that are only in shadow
Because your glorious mountains surround them.