I left my country to spare my kids the national hysteria of the Messiah of Nations,
but in the end, they are even more confused than if they were raised there.
Perhaps that’s exactly what was to be expected. After all, even I’m no longer sure
who I am since two decades have severed all ties except one: my passport.
However, my new home doesn’t exactly make it easy to find a new identity.
If anything, I would call myself a Scot rather than a Brit, but that hardly matters,
given that I refuse to swear an oath to the king. So, I settled for an emigrant,
with all the obligations but without the most fundamental right—the right to vote.
This is the price I pay for staying true to my principles, although some might say
I’m just a stubborn fool.
Tag: emigrants
Generations
Like father, like son, or so they say.
But what if the son has his father’s face
but not his voice anymore? Or a mother
and a daughter, like those I saw once
on the bus while coming back from work.
I was dozing off a bit, but I could still hear
a true Aberdonian teen frantically talking
about some fist-involving drama at school.
But at some point, a mature female voice
with a strong Nigerian accent responded.
Intrigued, I opened my eyes and saw them—
like two peas in a pod, yet different.

