Guernsey...My Home

Guernsey... My Home

From nineteen hundred to nineteen ten

Guernsey was well known as ‘Guernsey’ then

Freedom of speech was available then

Pride and land were in abundance

No-one had even heard of redundance

Alas the changes.

From nineteen ten to nineteen twenty

Men and boys left home aplenty

Guernsey stood waiting, as did the sentry

Waiting for their return

Will people never learn

Not everyone liked the changes.

From nineteen twenty to nineteen thirty

Farmers and fisherfolk, tired and dirty

Worked their way back to health and self-liberty

For the young there were new beginnings

For the old there was no time

This was a time for new changes.

From nineteen thirty to nineteen forty

Locals whispered the mainlands unfortuity

What has happened to our island of opportunity

Governments should note

To disregard is to gloat

Once again the world saw changes.

From nineteen forty to nineteen fifty

Changes made families more thrifty

Guernsey was once again looking rather nifty

But alas elsewhere, news was alarming but true

Once more to the battlefront boys two by two

My god those years saw changes.

From nineteen fifty to nineteen sixty

Guernsey folk saw advancement, improvement and complexity

Imported labour would test the local integrity

Stand up now you local few

Stem this flow of work that could be for you

Once again there were no changes.

From nineteen sixty to nineteen seventy

Infiltration of labour was plenty

Deaf and blind leaders turned away relently

Couldn’t they see between the lines?

Only if the job on offer is mine

Guernsey life saw many changes.

From nineteen seventy to nineteen eighty

Luxuries lessened as life’s expenses were weighty

The layman’s seen his future worsening lately

‘Not so’ say the Guernsey well-to-do

‘We don’t feel the pinch so why do you

Those with the most don’t worry about changes’

Nineteen eighty has nearly gone

With nine more eighties to go

In the last seven decades Guernsey has seen

More changes than I’ll ever know

What with Guernsey laws

And two world wars

God forbid a third

Can the ‘Guernsey’ traditions, name and pride

Call out and still be heard?

I tell you know-all Guernsey folk

To some a change is like a rest

But beware those who do the changing

It might not all be for the best

Guernsey folk look at it this way

Proud to be local and simply content

But if changes in Guernsey keep on at this rate

A week’s wages won’t even cover the rent

Alas we must surely find a solution

To get back to life as it used to be

To make Guernsey a proud home to live on once again

Where opportunity, prosperity, and freedom are ‘free’...

It’s never too late for change

Or is it..?

K.R.D. (AKA COREY)

ADDRESS WITHHELD