Miles Bonny "Oscar Bonikowsky" from Poland to Siberia to Uk -Canada - USA

All music Performed. Written and Recorded in Lublin, Poland by Miles Bonny Nov 2017. Mixed and Mastered by Miles Bonny - Taos NM in 2018. 

Miles traveled to Lublin Poland in 2017 after being invited to spend a month there collaborating with local musicians and exploring his heritage. Miles Bonny is his real name however "bonny" came from his grandfather named Oscar Bonikowsky. 

Oscar lived in Eastern Poland ( KROBONOSZ ) as a young boy until his family was ordered to leave and sent to Siberia. Oscar and some of his siblings survived that terror. They eventually made their way to England and then the Canada and then the USA. When he arrive in USA Oscar could not read or write in any language, not even his native German. Oscar's next feat was to somehow be accepted by a college in upstate New York where he learned English and later became a minister. Many people in the USA could not pronounce his last name, so he changed it from Bonikowski to Bonny. 

While in Poland, Miles revisited the land that his grandfather was sent from, the 1st in his family to do so since that fateful time in the early 1900s. It was an amazing and emotional experience for Miles and this song was created during that time.

lyrics

The Churchyard 
your family's there 
a little boy 
who soon will fear 
the orders came on Sunday service 
as people cried 
everyone was nervous 

You were sent to 
a foreign land 
decided by some powerful man 
you chased the trains 
you ran and hide 
maintained your faith 
while many others died 

Siberia 
must have been so cold 
from Krobonocz 
only five years old 
a hundred years ago 
and since that time 
you've managed to cross many other boarder lines 

Your son grew up to be my dad 
what a man he is 
because of you I have 
the courage to persevere 
grandfather I wish you were near 

Humanity needs our help again 
I promise to be a friend 

To all who are stunt upon 
become headlines as they're shuffled along 
out of mind 

I'll do what I can with what you've given me 
and now I'm a man who seeks to know what it was to be 
a little boy in a polish land 
I'll do my best to understand 

The trauma 
The fear 
The sadness 
that brought you here 
that brought me here 
that brought you there 
that brought me here 
thank you oscar 

oscar