Source: Clearances by Rob Cullen
Clearances by Rob Cullen
Visiting Scotland lots of times over the years with my Scots wife and recognising Welsh place names and what they mean pointers to a history never taught. Visiting Ethiopia and witnessing the same process threatening nomadic peoples viewed to be savages by the ruling elite, And nomadic people are under threat worldwide today ignoring what they can teach about sustainability!
I see my people’s names
in all the places I search
but I do not see them.
I read my people’s names
on the dry page of the folded map
but the land before me is empty.
I watch the landscape
identifying the marks
that my people have named
but the sound of their voices
is no longer heard.
They are quiet
no echoing of names called
no trail of our footprints
only the trail of names
in a land that calls itself
by a strangers name.
A land echoing in its emptiness.
The mountains are still with us
but we are nowhere seen.
“And we will present our eyes to the world.
Is it pretentions to believe that we are equal?
Is it asking too much that we want to live?”
(From Deliverance: Alan Stivell)
At Kinlochmoidart 1993.
