A dependable source of pleasure when travelling is the frequent micro-moments of disorientation: for me in the US they include glimpses of cars in traffic with empty space where I expect a driver, ‘Shaw’ and ‘shore’ not rhyming, entrée as a main course. Most of these moments pass almost subliminally. I doubt if I would have noticed the one that set this poem going if I hadn’t been reading an essay on Australia’s convict period on the plane home. Speaking of micro-disorientation, I don’t suppose many of my readers – Catholic or otherwise – will know the hymn to the Immaculate Conception the poem quotes: it should be enough to know that it exists.
Sonnet No11: Let’s not call the whole thing off
We say ‘transport’, you say ‘transportation’.
At school I sang, ‘My soul today is heav’n
on earth, oh could the transport last!’ Elation,
I parsed the hymn to say when I was sev’n,
could be reached on a bus (shades of Totoro!),
a bus that might not run again tomorrow.
A moment’s puzzlement for little Shaw,
not so much pun as latent metaphor.
But ‘transportation’ told a different story:
Endeavour led to exile, chains, the lash,
a First Fleet weighed down with old England’s trash,
invasion, dispossession, death, no glory.
No wonder my town shuns the longer word,
prefers to leave those murky depths unstirred.
Brilliant piece Jonathan – especially since among the First Eleven (Tony Abbott recently said there were 12 vessels in that Fleet???) “trash” were my paternal great x 3 grand-parents! Indeed, transportation their fate – in fact they were sentenced to be sent to the American colonies – though colonies no longer once the English (British) said to George Washington: “Okay – you win!” So they waited for a decision – west Africa? Nope! And Mars it was – or the other side of the Moon – aka Botany Bay – soon-to-be Port Jackson!
If your ancestor was Henry Kable, Jim, he receives a number of honourable mentions in John Hirst’s stimulating book, Australian History in 7 Questions, which I’m currently reading.
Enjoyed your sonnet;I think most Catholics my vintage (1925) would be familiar with the hymn.
Regards,Gerard Brennan.
Thanks for commenting, Gerard. Your generation, and mine (1947). ‘And I keep singing in my heart, Immaculate, Immaculate!’ I think I remember that hymn in particular because I had to struggle to understand almost every line of it.