Iain took this photo this week when he was out walking behind Helensburgh in Glen Fruin. The days of being lost in the mountains are not exactly "gone" but perhaps "disappearing" would be a better word. Always my last words to him are "Have you got your mobile?"!!!
It was National Poetry Week last week so here is a poem that fits the photo. I don't know Hamid Shami but it intrigued me that his best friend was a McLeod!
It was National Poetry Week last week so here is a poem that fits the photo. I don't know Hamid Shami but it intrigued me that his best friend was a McLeod!
Lost
To quote my distant friend Imran McLeod
'A man with no culture has no identity'
The last I heard of him was, he was off
To the Himalayas.
He had a very confused childhood.
Father was Scottish,
Mother Pakistani.
They'd always be arguing over many things
Concerning him.
One was religion.
Father wanted him brought up
A Catholic; mother wanted a Muslim.
Was the only boy on our street who went
To mosque on Fridays and chapel on Sundays.
But in the mountains
God's sure to find him.
Hamid Shami
___________________________________________________________To quote my distant friend Imran McLeod
'A man with no culture has no identity'
The last I heard of him was, he was off
To the Himalayas.
He had a very confused childhood.
Father was Scottish,
Mother Pakistani.
They'd always be arguing over many things
Concerning him.
One was religion.
Father wanted him brought up
A Catholic; mother wanted a Muslim.
Was the only boy on our street who went
To mosque on Fridays and chapel on Sundays.
But in the mountains
God's sure to find him.
Hamid Shami
Poem by Hamid Shami, from Wish I Was Here: a Scottish Multicultural Anthology, Pocketbooks, 2000.
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