Aboriginal Poems

A Book of Small Poems about Aboriginals THEGHOSTS written by OLIVIA HOSIE

THE GHOSTS      Our faces fill with shock as we look  out to the horizon.What are they?   The baskets made from tree wood stop as they reach thebay.   Ghosts come walking out of it. They look at us as if we areweird.   We watch as the ghosts talk to each other strangely.  More and more appeared.   Some were nice.   Some said we had to pay a price.   Some ghosts took away our family.   While the rest of us hid unhappily.   We wanted to fight back.   But they were too strong when theyattacked.   They banned us from where we usedto play.   More and more came every day.   They make us talk differently.   They make us act differently.   Our world has changed.   None of our special places remain.   We still get looked at funny.   No one will pay us money.   Finally we have an apology.   Yet we are still a colony. 1 PAGE

MY COUNTRY My country is dry   Deserted from people   Drowned in flames My country is ruined   Rapped from good   Rejected by the white My country is mourning   Many lost souls   Moulded to match My country is burnt Bursting to live Baked from the sun My country is strong Stubborn and free Savaged and pillaged No longer my country   No place for us here   Where should we go   Soon we will disappear 2 PAGE

IS THIS DADThe children watch anxiously, as Dad appears, The familiar screams, The waiting is ominous, and soon a reality, Praying for their mother, their hearts full of fear, Do they know any better, The smell of alcohol is near. 3 PAGE

STOLEN How can I call myself a mother, My baby is gone, My heart forever aching,As I remember tender breath on my face, My salty tears keep falling, Pain is etched in my soul, I wonder, I weep, I ask why, No one answers, I dream,One day you’ll find your way back to me. 4 PAGE

TIME BEFORE TIME We danced under the moonlight We glistened in the sun We had a culture united as one We hunted and ate We sang togetherWe talked of our dreaming, something to treasure We needed no more We had all we could ask for Until you came to our shore. 5 PAGE