CHILD'S PLAY IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN
XIX
The Promised Land
We sailed for the promised land
through seas that stretched as far as the sky
wherever I looked,
past pillars of water touching the clouds,
sliding slowly across the waves,
stopping at strange, exciting places
where parts of ships the war had sunk
poked up
reaching for air,
places with names, even now, I recall -
first Singapore and next Colombo -
then Bombay, bright and busy
where we went ashore -
then into the reach of the Red Sea
which disappointingly was not red,
and through the Suez Canal,
stopping by places hidden from sight
but given away by smell
and fleets of people come out to greet us
and dive for coins tossed into the sea,
past Malta, Gibraltar and then heading north
where approaching arrival heightened the mood
of great expectation of wonderful good
that would come with finally reaching the place
of promise,
where life would be better and all would be well,
so I gathered with others along the ship's side
peering ahead at the oncoming shore,
but anticipation cooled into dismay,
for the shores we had left
had gleamed in the sun
but what lay below and beyond,
as slowly we pulled into Liverpool
with an overcast sky concealing the sun,
the docks, the buildings, the sea all around us
and even the people gathered there,
everything that I could see,
was sullen and grey,
seemed covered with soot.
This was the promised land?
XIX
The Promised Land
We sailed for the promised land
through seas that stretched as far as the sky
wherever I looked,
past pillars of water touching the clouds,
sliding slowly across the waves,
stopping at strange, exciting places
where parts of ships the war had sunk
poked up
reaching for air,
places with names, even now, I recall -
first Singapore and next Colombo -
then Bombay, bright and busy
where we went ashore -
then into the reach of the Red Sea
which disappointingly was not red,
and through the Suez Canal,
stopping by places hidden from sight
but given away by smell
and fleets of people come out to greet us
and dive for coins tossed into the sea,
past Malta, Gibraltar and then heading north
where approaching arrival heightened the mood
of great expectation of wonderful good
that would come with finally reaching the place
of promise,
where life would be better and all would be well,
so I gathered with others along the ship's side
peering ahead at the oncoming shore,
but anticipation cooled into dismay,
for the shores we had left
had gleamed in the sun
but what lay below and beyond,
as slowly we pulled into Liverpool
with an overcast sky concealing the sun,
the docks, the buildings, the sea all around us
and even the people gathered there,
everything that I could see,
was sullen and grey,
seemed covered with soot.
This was the promised land?