The Highland Clearances

The Great of my great great great grandparents fled The bonnie shores of Scotland Pinched for a penny by unscrupulous lairds The time the land was cleared A human no match for a breeding sheep. Herded to a boat on a forbidding sea The fatal winds to blow them— Some would succeed and others would die— To America, Canada and Far-off New Zealand. The made their way as best they could New lives planted in a stranger's field Looking forward, not glancing back Suns rising, moons falling Every day a possibility But there will always be the lingering cry The broken song of the Highlands To be forced away From the home you love The place of your belonging. ~ Laurence Overmire [Previously published in The Ghost of Rabbie Burns: An American Poet's Journey Through Scotland, Indelible Mark Publishing,2016]