Tom Leonard is a Glaswegian poet whose work deserves to be better known – and I am talking to myself here as much as you.
I thought I knew his writing quite well, until I came across this today: it’s a wonderful, thought-provoking poem and I am delighted that he has given me permission to reproduce it here.
A humanist
The son of an immigrant, he had eschewed the culture of his father as also that of the land into which he was born.
The religion of his father was once the religion of the indigenous natives, but they had rejected and overthrown it.
And the son was yet seen as of that tribe which corroded the native culture and language.
An outsider, he felt at home with the art and culture of other outsiders, for many years he found companionship across space and time.
But from within he came to realise himself as instance of the universal human. The universal human is inclusive and absolute, there is no individual outside it.
This sense of the universal human is the home of all those who have won through to become themselves.
And much trouble in the world is caused by those who remain self-sequestered in their perceived province of the exclusive.
You can see more of Tom’s writing on his web site – and you can buy his books there too. http://www.tomleonard.co.uk/home.html
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