On This Day

On day 7 of NaPoWriMo I celebrate a birthday. Not my birthday you understand but the birthday of the Scottish National Party (SNP) of whom I am proud to be a member as it was on the 7th of April 1934 that the party was born, so I thought it only right to commemorate my party’s birthday by writing this poem for my SNP family and wishing our party many more years of success I’ve titled the poem On This Day , I hope you enjoy the read
On This Day,

On this day we remember

the cause we represent

we must never be content

with second best in any aspect of our lives

we survived the hard times

they moulded us in to fighters

for a vision of a future free from fear

in which the obscenity of nuclear weapons

are banished forever from the Clyde

we will have a country

in which we can have pride

where people matter far more than image

Britishness, will be consigned to history

but until the day comes

we must walk with dignity

remembering both past and present

heroes and heroines of our movement

yes there will always be room improvement

but on this day remember

Donald Stewart the man who was our first MP

to gain a seat at a Westminster General Election

Margo MacDonald, and Alison Hunter

whose talents secured famous victories

in Labour’s industrial heartlands

community champions like Bashir Ahmed and Jim Mitchell

Yes I know we wax lyrical on

the political skills of Nicola

and have been entertained and educated

by listening to the oratory and intellect of Alex Salmond.

further back in time we had Jim Sillars, Winnie Ewing, and Jimmy Reid ,

Now it’s Tasmina Ahmed-Sheik and Mhairi Black

who are the fresh voices the party need

to deal with the challenges of our times

the UK has reached the end of the line

let us not mourn

It is time for a better Scotland to be born

let’s wave goodbye to the union jack

by showing our people there is a better way to be

Independent and free from the chains of colonial rule

and the poverty it has brought to our nation

my inspiration

comes from members in every branch

the foot soldiers who climbed stairs and filled envelopes

before chapping doors and putting leaflets through letter boxes

in the name of the cause

we are proud to uphold

no amount of silver and gold

can buy our principled position

of saying no to a country run by elites

we must explain to the voters

why we will never be content

to accept second best

our history won’t let us

as we remember them

who fought the fight before us

only to be faced with a chorus of apathy

and the oft repeated line

my father voted Labour

and if was good for him

then it’s good enough for me

we as SNP supporters were dismissed without a hearing

if it never deterred our predecessors

it won’t stop us now

in every city , town , and village

we will campaign with honesty

for the future we know is ours

we have never wanted power

for the sake of having it

we want to transform our country

and the lives of those who live in it

it is for this reason alone we exist

we must not ignore the fact

we follow in the footsteps of giants

and on this day and every day

we will remember them

© Gayle Smith 2017