Ever since I was a boy in Raasay and became aware of the differences
Between the history I read in books and the oral accounts I heard
Around me, I have been very sceptical of what might be called
Received history the million people for instance who died in Ireland
In the nineteenth century the million more who had to emigrate the
Thousands of families forced from their homes in the Highlands and
Islands. Why was all that? Famine? Overpopulation? Improvement?
The Industrial Revolution? Expansion overseas?
You see not many of these people understood such words,
They knew only Gaelic. But we know now another set of words:
Clearance, empire, profit, exploitation,
And today we live with the bitter legacy of that kind of history.
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Our Gaelic language is threatened with extinction,
Our way of life besieged by the forces of international big business,
Our countries beggared by bad communication,
Our culture is vitiated by the sentimentality of those who have gone
Away. We have, I think,
A deep sense of generation and community but this has in so many ways
Been broken. We have a history of resistance,
But now mainly in the songs we sing.
Our children are bred for emigration.
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration
Emigration