"Leaving Home to Find Another"

Very little clothes,very little money
We sailed away into the west
It wasn't luxury,It wasn't funny
Seeing our future through a foggy mist

From dear old England,from a tiny town
There was no work,none could be found
We packed our bags and headed down
Down to the docks,to that unholy ground

A couple storms,then days with no wind
Thinking our journey would never end
No time to laugh,no time to pretend
We prayed to God for luck to send

In mid atlantic, we lost two souls
On deck at sunrise we said some words
Never knowing what the future holds
West of the Grand Banks we saw the birds

It took us Thirty days and nights
To sail across the deep blue sea
The year was 1840,land in our sights
A promised land we were longing to see

The rugged shore of this Newfoundland
Would be the place we'd soon call home
A little cove, with a beach of sand
Never more would we need to roam

We did not know heartbreak lived there
Having no awareness and having no fear
About all the sorrows we would have to bear
When the time came and we finally got there

It was on a Sunday,the last one in May
The rain and the fog would not go away
We stepped on the wharf with not much to say
In that cold little town far up in the bay

We needed supplies,to the merchant we went
I saw in his eyes he would want every cent
The ones that we carried in our little purse
The merchants here were surely much worse

How they loved to see, our torment and pain
All the time knowing we'd come back again
Stuffing their pockets with no care at all
The overpriced items that hung on the wall

We needed a dory,some jiggers and line
Molasses and flour to get through the days
He said do not worry,everything well be fine
When the Fall comes around,then everyone pays

They put us through such misery
While stealing all our time
How they gloated for us to see
We left that town and the merchant behind

We left the town of old St.John's
Headed down the southern shore
Kept a wide berth around Mistaken Point
Then turned to west and forever more.

"Part Two"
The Red Island cliffs,a sight to behold
Just east of Burgeo,facing the sea
Whoever made these must have broken the mold
For never again will they come to be

We did not know what hardships lay
Silently waiting upon the shore
Waiting for us to heave away
Our place of birth to see no more

We took our belongings,two kids and us
Over the railings,quickly we went
The gentle waves,lapped at the shore
Thinking this new land was heaven sent

The coxswain gave warning,we rounded the point
There stood some shanties,painted and bright
Daylight was fading,yes oh what a sight
A family of livyers took us in for the night

Long before daybreak we rose from our beds
Jumped in the dory for wood to be cut
To build us a shelter to lay down our heads
Across the bight and in through the gut

Wasn't much to look at,a roof and four walls
Chinched with moss,sods to keep rain out
A place to take refuge when Winter calls
Surely it came, without any doubt

We fished all the Summer,late in the Fall
Weather got rough with the storms and all
Snow started falling and it got very cold
We were so young yet were feeling so old

Just after Christmas we went in the woods
To cut all the firewood we'd need for the year
Snaring some rabbits,some partridge for soup
With cunning and patience we trapped us a Bear

It was a long Winter,Spring coming late
We snuggled up closely,pondered our fate
Would this new year bring sorrow and pain
The spring was not happy,all fog and rain
merchants dished out again and again

Finally we decided we needed a change
Moved up to Burgeo,built us a home
Strangers we were and the people were strange
Yet loving and caring,no more would we roam

This is a story of how we got here
Written in verses with nothing to fear
Thanks to our ancestors for their second sight
Without their love we would not be here tonight

Dwayne Swift
Oct.14th-15th,2024