Italian Travellers

(Came to Ancoats)

 

 

 

Did they come like locust?

Arriving as a plague, did they try other lands?

Seeking out some shade.

 

Did they travel over land by sea on horse then train?

Wear out their boots with walking

Across countries left behind,

Until they found this Ancoats, where they settled down.

 

Did this Ancoats offer,

What no land round this globe, had offered to some travellers,

A place they could call home

 

Did they witness suffering from the lands they left behind

Did their parents cry or push them off with joy

To find the things from life,

They never had enjoyed.

 

Did they find it hard to leave or simply have no choice?

Because, their homeland echoed, with some dictators voice.

Did they find life simple? Was life very harsh?

Questions I’d ask the travellers, if they were still alive.

 

They left new generations in Ancoats to remain,

To carry on the dreams that they brought with them

Back from where they came.

 

 

 

“Italian Travellers” (Came to Ancoats) © Carmine Grimshaw