Read the Runes
You- artists- etch on zinc
With bitumen, a winding river
Long, important in your land
Plus fish and water creatures
In struggle to survive
On sacred rocks in ochre
Millennia long gone, you
-First inhabitants-
Draw lizards, leave your mark
We are sorry we are sorry
For the ruin we have wrought
By miracle/ geography
This rainforest, not despoiled
A work of art exuberant
Creation ever new
Strangler figs and monster ferns
Left to run amok
Symbiotic systems not yet trampled
Not destroyed
Do we read the runes and spot the signs
Give credence, heed the words
Are we sorry, are we sorry
For the ruin we have wrought?
May 19th 2010, Port Douglas, Queensland, for Lesley Labram, artist
'We are so sorry for what we did to your people' - comment in visitors' book left by child, at Aboriginal peoples' sacred site.
Been missing your poems Sally. This really brought back such strong memories, I found the whole experience of aborginal art powerful. Flying over the desert looking from above it is like experiencing one of their canvasses. What an amazing way to record wisdom,customs, knowledge. In your poem put together memories of forest so old it was beyond my conceptual ability in terms of time. I remember seeing some dreadful scenes indicating no to your last question but at the same time standing on an empty beach at the edge of the forest holding Joshua's hand hoping what I had seen would be treasured and he might one day do the same. You put it all so well. xxx
ReplyDeleteSo good to have you back Jude as have missed our poetry exchanges! Just now back from Byron Bay which is so spectacular and stunningly beautiful.What a glorious land this is, but what horrors done to the first people and to the land also, even today.
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