belonging to be

[extemporanea]

So, a strange thing. Several people commented on my post about Zimbabwe and identity to say that they felt national identity didn't really apply to them: either because it's an irrelevant concept, or because South Africa itself has changed so much in the last ten years that it'll never be the home they left. I can obviously understand that, and the

Comments

[wolverine_nun]

I am reminded of the feeling I get when I read The Songs of Distant Earth - the deep sorrow these last survivors of Earth, a planet now consumed by the expanding sun, feel for their home which does not exist any more. Somehow Arthur C. Clarke manages to weave that through the whole story so that, when I finish reading, I look around me with wonder that this Earth, for whose death I am feeling real grief, is still there.

[nimnod]

Have you ever read Dan Wylie's poem "Leaving Zimbabwe"? If not I must dig it out for you. It addresses the things you're taking about, his experience of having all those feelings while at Beit bridge, in a really powerful way without becoming lengthy and overblow.

[schedule5]

You're never, ever, too old to miss your mother. Every time my mom used to go back to the UK (NOT, any longer, her home in any sense of the word either) I used to be weepy for days.

(That's part of why she lives with us, now!)

[silmaril]

I must leave a comment here; something to note, to signify that I have read and understood and will remember this. I have no meaningful input, other than that, but it felt important to say this.

[virtualkathy]

((hug))