You've really captured the rootlessness of the diaspora. Thank you Ronnie. You are a treasure and we're lucky to have you in our country at the end of the earth.
Thank you, Douglas! So glad I can share it with you and other fellow writers here on Substack (wouldn’t dream of posting it on FB) Knowing someone from their writing creates a different kind of connection, I think😊
I wonder what percentage of the world's population lives in a country that isn't the one they were born in? Maybe it isn't rootlessness, just possessing the ability to put down roots wherever we are.
Bringing our memories and traditions with us. We celebrate the 1st of March by giving family and friends a “martenitza” (an entwined red and white woollen thread) for good health. This year, one of my young student came to school with a martenitza tied around her wrist. It tuned out she is from Albania and they celebrate it too. Made me very happy! 😊
Thank you for this moving poem which reminds me that the past is always that other world, its otherness made more so by relocation and dislocation.
I live in Australia and though I speak the same language as in my English childhood, not even the swans are the same colour, not even the air inhales in the same way.
33 years later, I still am a tree with no roots. Still missing everything about home, and even more so when I go back there. Because it’s changed so much, that feel like a foreigner in my own land…
You've really captured the rootlessness of the diaspora. Thank you Ronnie. You are a treasure and we're lucky to have you in our country at the end of the earth.
Thank you, Delysse! Your heartwarming comment is a treasure for me too 🤗
Lovely!
Thank you, Douglas! So glad I can share it with you and other fellow writers here on Substack (wouldn’t dream of posting it on FB) Knowing someone from their writing creates a different kind of connection, I think😊
Indeed it does. x
I wonder what percentage of the world's population lives in a country that isn't the one they were born in? Maybe it isn't rootlessness, just possessing the ability to put down roots wherever we are.
Bringing our memories and traditions with us. We celebrate the 1st of March by giving family and friends a “martenitza” (an entwined red and white woollen thread) for good health. This year, one of my young student came to school with a martenitza tied around her wrist. It tuned out she is from Albania and they celebrate it too. Made me very happy! 😊
Culture usually extends beyond national boundaries (like forests and rivers). Where do you live now? Which country?
22 years in New Zealand 🇳🇿
I knew it was an anglophone country, guessed it wasn’t UK, but couldn’t decide which one :)
Thank you for this moving poem which reminds me that the past is always that other world, its otherness made more so by relocation and dislocation.
I live in Australia and though I speak the same language as in my English childhood, not even the swans are the same colour, not even the air inhales in the same way.
Your comment means so much to me, thank you 🙏. Where is home, here, there? Will we ever get used to this in-between-ness?
33 years later, I still am a tree with no roots. Still missing everything about home, and even more so when I go back there. Because it’s changed so much, that feel like a foreigner in my own land…
Yep. But we can write about it!