Diaspora of the Glens
Echoes of the Clearances
In the shadow of Ben Nevis, silence grows
like heather, choking the memory of voices.
Stone cottages, once warm with peat smoke and song,
now roofless, gaping, swallowing sky.
The factor comes, ledger in hand,
pounds and shillings weighed against generations.
In London, lords dream of wool and profit,
while in Sutherland, families pack lives into carts.
A child’s rag doll left behind,
face-down in the rushes. Who will hear its cry?
The sheep don’t listen to ghosts.
Across the Atlantic, Nova Scotia’s shore
echoes with Gaelic laments, salt-tinged and bitter.
New world soil drinks old world tears,
as exiles plant potatoes and memories.
In Glasgow’s growing slums, Highland accents
thicken the air like factory smoke.
How far from the glen to the tenement?
Farther than miles can measure.
The old ones say the land remembers.
In hidden valleys, does the bracken still bend
under phantom footsteps? Do stones still warm
to hands long gone to dust or distant shores?
History books will call it progress,
improvement, economic necessity.
But in the night, if you listen closely,
you might hear the hills keening for their children.
This poem, “Diaspora of the Glens: Echoes of the Clearances,” attempts to capture Robin Coste Lewis’s style through its use of historical narrative, vivid imagery, and a reflective tone that interweaves personal experiences with broader historical events.
The piece employs free verse with varied line lengths and stanza structures, similar to Lewis’s work. It blends concrete historical details (like the factor’s ledger and the Nova Scotia shore) with more abstract and emotional elements (the keening of the hills, the child’s abandoned doll).
Like Lewis often does, this poem explores themes of displacement, cultural loss, and the long-lasting impacts of historical injustices. It attempts to give voice to those who were silenced by history, considering the Clearances from multiple perspectives — the evicted Highlanders, their descendants, and even the land itself.
The poem also tries to challenge simplistic narratives by juxtaposing different viewpoints (“History books will call it progress”) and by emphasizing the emotional and cultural costs of the Clearances beyond just the economic factors.
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