Dreamtime

Between the slumbering earth

And an awakened

Bright sky,

Humming

Mountains and silent valleys

Lit up by the

Glowing stars

Spread out in the sky,

The wandering

 Aboriginal poet,

A distant

Descendant of

Bennelong/Colebee

Fresh from the University,

Roams the valleys

Of a land called

Terra Nullius

By the invaders

 Circa 1770-88,

The bilingual poet

Who hated his origins

But later realized his folly,

Tries to capture

In his sad songs

What he hears

From the wandering spirits

That once spoke to his simple

Ancestors

Rooted to forest, land and sea,

The intimate voices,

Visions,

Sharing attitudes,

Now lost forever,

After the arrival of

The alien

 First Fleet

And with it:
 The Convict,

Conflict

And disease.

The poet tries to reclaim

A   troubled legacy,

And with efforts,

Catches the old songs

Of the sky, the land and the sea;

The vibrant songs that speak and

Heard with sympathy

By immigrants and others,

Since they, the songs, that

Document---

Their own marginalized histories.