Grandad: Arrival

by Mussarat Rahman

My grandad was the first to arrive
To leave his homeland and serve in a foreign land
The same country which depleted my ancestral links
The same country which uprooted a whole civilisation in the name of Freedom
Creating a monster whilst the survivors are still living its legacy
I am the third generation, of the first born desis in the UK
Still fighting for a nations survival
Regardless of ethnicity
I know I’m still a child of a migration culture
Still bound by invisible rules and regulations
Not marked out for the general populace
Unless you sell your soul, forgo your roots and uphold Britishness
Britishness made on the backs of immigrants, migrants and changemakers
Those seeking a better destiny when called to a new land, a new world
Where seekers of adventures, explorers of new worlds arrived
Seemed possible beyond their wildest dreams
Until the bitterness of a racist nation hit, crippled by its own illusions & feardom
Gripped many by its snarly smile and baring teeth
Exposing those seeking a better life
To an unwelcomed welcome

Reproduced with kind permission of the author.