With sadness and forboding, my eyes begin to water
Tears shed endlessly down my cheeks and onto my chin
Sorrow and pain in my heart reaches out for kindness
For I have read with astonishment the tales of our kin

For they were the Home Children of great mother Britain

So many and so young sent from the clutches of despair
Poverty experienced in the land of their birth as the excuse
Sent away from their siblings their parents and loved ones
Away from it all with no option given to the right to refuse

Those forgotten and lost, abandoned by hope and by all
To begin a new life at the age of innocence all alone
As indentured slaves in the new country that took them
To a new land did they wander, so far far from home

They grew and matured, some even shone in their life
But most grew to hide from the horror they remembered
Not once or twice would they complain to us all
Instead they thought to them a favour was rendered

For they were the Home Children of great mother Britain

Although many years have passed by and gone
We should all say a prayer for the kin so afflicted
Because this was a disease they had to endue,
A disease of the mind that governments inflicted

The governments way to rid the country of waifs and of strays
And to admonish the poor for being so within their borders
For these are the Home Children that were sent away
Their lives awaiting and covered in shreds of kindness and horrors

Truly we have to think of those that were not as lucky as we
To become servants and slaves, some loved but some abused
We owe them our lives yet DO NOT understand
How can youngsters deal with this and not be confused

Look into the faces you see in the photo’s you hold
The sadness, and emptiness is overbearing, shed a tear
For that is the only way we can relieve the pain we feel
Think of the Home Children and experience their fear

Look back on it now and thank our Home Children kin
Could we have sustained ourselves were we punished so
These are the Home Children, bear no ill will, understand them now
They are our kin love and forgive for things long ago

For they were the Home Children of great mother Britain

by: Grant Driver - March 2000 copyright