Generations
Nighttime in the liminal dark
of moonlight music and lovers
embrace dreaming songs
that trace lines of inner
country still emerging
Even as the dreaming
of my own ancestors
falls as fire and ash
of nightmare walking
on mother country
Still my people live
in dreams of such
poverty and hunger
that the riches choke
the land and waters
As mountain faces stand
before the sentinel skies
revolving constellations
through the firmament
of generations past and emerging
All of us somehow sharing in
this fleeting moment of wonder
that such a thing as this might exist
and that beings such as us
could be here to share it
How can we refuse to hear
the message from the heart?
with the weight of devastation
so heavy on the dreaming
we live together
In 2017 delegates from First Nations of Australia gathered over four days at Uluru in Central Australia to create the Uluru Statement From the Heart, calling for a voice to government and a process of agreement-making and truth-telling. This document of remarkable beauty is still rejected by the Australian government.
© Simon Wade 2020
