Seminar Response - Distant Memory

To know ones history
is to know how your family
ended up where you are today.
To know ones lineage
is to know your family.
I know where I come from:
Ireland
Norway
England
Australia
New Zealand.
My ancestors spoke English,
so I speak the language of my ancestors
yes.

The villages of my parents
is Manurewa
and Mangere.
I have been to Mangere.
I live in Manurewa.
There are no tears from my elders,
when they speak about their parents.
Happy tales only.
We do not have one family cemetery,
unless you count Waikumete but no one has been buried there in a while.
Children don't play in my parents' village.
In Mangere, they wander the streets.
In Manurewa, they stay inside and let their pitbulls roam free.

My home is here, and I see it everyday.
I have seen as much as I can of the landmarks of our family.
Unfortunately,
there aren't many left.

I want to go to Neamestown, County Wexford, Ireland.
I want to see where the first Neame was born.
I want to see the land the Neame's used to own.

I will travel, but I will not travel home
for Auckland, New Zealand is my home.
I will travel to the lands of my ancestors,
see the village named after the Neame's
see the new Oslo, Norway, and hopefully the old Oslo, where the Olsen's are from.
I will see the Shepherd Neame brewery in Kent, England,
where a Neame started brewing strong ale with a Shepherd
I want to taste the beer that my family used to make.

Closer to home, I will go to Nelson, where my Pop was born.
I will go to Australia, where my
great-great-great-great-great grandfather
was sent, after stealing from his master,
where he took a second wife, even though the first was alive.

I don't belong to these countries
except for New Zealand
but my ancestors were part of those other histories.
Those countries are their special places
and are special to me too,
but Auckland, New Zealand is my home.