Last Travellers - Jayney
This Land " ... At first they closed the commons, the bye ways and the drove And took away our stopping places where our ancestors would rove Reduced to living on wasteland, before the council man appeared Modernity brought misery and everything we feared. They stole our children far away from us to settle other nomadic lands Our woman tried to get them back, but they were deaf to all demands The plan was to cut the links that bind us deeply to one another To ‘educate’ away our connection, to the earth, the land, our mother" "It worked, in part, because those we knew, grew cold and hard and mean Unlike their ancestors they turned away from everything that’s green But our elders knew better, they said this too shall pass They taught us all we had was each other. So those who listened held fast. So when you see a Gypsy boy or Traveller girl with horses at the fair Or caravans still pitching up on open land without a care You’re witnessing a triumph from a people with a past With an iron determination to prosper, to overcome and last Each one of us came from everywhere, we sprung from this very land And to her we shall return, in turn, when we’ve made our earthly stand" Jake Bowers
