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Ode to Emigration

Updated: Jul 13, 2023

The suburbs can be bleak

They render isolation

The dreams of shores afar

Inspire to emigration


The fantasy of light

In sunny cities tease

So fully I immerse

In Melbourne’s fantasies


And forty years go by

My children are now grown

And grandchildren emerge

I make this town my own


So here my future lies

With strong familial ties

My heart still yearns for home

And this must be my tome


To emigrate is cruel

I never knew how much

The heart is never full

But yearning for the touch


Of Irish soil and mirth

The music and the joy

The solace of my birth

Can yet become my buoy


And so I live between

Two worlds that ne’er will touch

But I must make my peace

With what I love so much


The red and sandy soil

The beauty of expanse

The easy way we live

The open welcome stance


The Australian joi de Vivre

The tolerance and the friendship

The pure irreverent laugh

The warmth and the mate-ship


The lesson must be this

Expanse is for the soul

The separation pain

Must render us more whole


That is not how it feels

But trust we must it so

The journey is the lesson

And that is how it goes.

by Breed Barrett


Breed Barrett is an author, transitions counsellor and tarot reader, having been immersed in giving guidance using tarot and other media for 35 years. Her book “Choose a Better You” was published 5 years ago. Breed has always loved poetry, and her favorite poet W. B. Yeats. Recently, she has decided to write her own poetry.

Australian immigrant flower


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