The North

I set foot on the soil of the North

That old familiar fear still haunts

A hatred rises & boils…

that shame inside me that I, I can’t overcome.

They ask me ‘Man, how was home?’

That home you speak of is a scar

Its spirit walks beside me,

Its prejudice defiles me,

Its history still bares its soul in all who know

I confess these feelings are my own

Ive been away so long, I know

Tellin’ stories to Nick & Bryan

Things they couldn’t understand

Tales of a broken man

Just tryin’…to get back home.

Now 44 years old

Still that boy in the schoolyard

Sure, I was my fathers son

But I was never that hard.

Now in a Glasgow haze,

Talking about those younger days

Trying to make sense of the senseless

this tragic comedy of ‘home’

It’s in our bones.

My school tie said that I’m one of ‘them’

A red rag to the flag-bearing hands

Im still called a cunt for the colours I wear

I just smile & say ‘why, why should I care?’

But I care…Truth is I care.

The farther away I feel

the deeper I can breathe

That overwhelming shame in these feelings I conceal.

My soul still pulls to the black lands that created me

But now my homes in the black sand

because here I can breathe.

Here I can breathe. Here I am me.

I Am Me

I set foot on the soil of the North.