Catharina

My grandmother, Catharina Margaretha Capiteyns, emigrated from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Perth, Western Australia in 1952 with my grandfather Reiner Steens and their first born child Hedwig (or 'Aunty Heddy' as we fondly call her.)

I recently read two stories about emigration: 'Navigatio' by Alison Croggon and 'Lost in Translation' by Eva Hoffman.

Both described the scene of departure and it made me reflect on my grandmother's own. What must it have been like boarding a ship and waving goodbye to your parents, brothers and sisters...perhaps forever! Imagine heading to a new land, a place you'd never been to before, to live...forever.

It inspired a song which I named 'Catharina' and here is the first couple of verses and chorus...

The boat pulled away

painfully slowly

arms tired of waving

both of us trying not to break

Until you became

a part of the landscape

a blur on the coastline

not yet a memory

Will I ever see you again?

The wind whispered lowly

goodbye dearest kin

the waves will now pull me

to a land I've never been

but my love it'll return

in shoals across the sea

and wash up on your shore

will I see you again?