The Struggle

They invited you here to rebuild after the war,
You worked as nurses, factory workers, on the Underground and as bus conductors.

They called you to “the mother country” and said this was your home.

They said it was safe for you and your family to build, settle and roam.

You endured early morning smog, walking in front of buses to guide the way.

After all that was too dangerous for the English workers, at the end of the day.

You worked to help the sick who didn’t want you to touch them.

Then after a long shift on the ward you would head back to your room to burn your kerosene.

Or kill some time till one of the fellas finished his turn sleeping,

With 5 of you all paying rent for one room, with the bed shifts rotating.

You saved your money in partners and meetings

Stayed loyal to the companies you came here to work for in the beginning

You paid your taxes, bought homes and had children

You settled in this place they called England.

Your kids were British now, or so you thought.

You taught them to be grateful to the motherland and that they were English from the start.

That was until we stepped out onto the road and the police, government, schools and work said this isn’t so “Why don’t you go back to where you come from” they would say

The only problem with that, was unlike you we were from around the way

With nowhere to call home and a system stacked against us, we always knew this day would come 
We knew it was only a matter of time before they told you to go home

After all, you’ve built the country, paid your taxes, your job is done.

There is no way they want you to have your well-deserved pension and whilst they deport you, they make sure they also kick out your family extension.

After all, they always told us we could never be English
Giving us the title if British
A clear sign if difference

So here we are today, 50 plus years since you were invited here.
Now your being dispatched back home to a country many of you don’t understand a foreign and distant land.

That English dream that was meant to be has turned into a nightmare, a bind, a new form of misery.