people of this land offered strangers water
hospitality
strange strangers
very strange
white like the dead
bringers of death
in the blink of an eye
hundreds of thousands
(maybe millions?)
died
the stranger’s first death gift:
smallpox
language groups decimated
skin relations lost
love lost
future lost
deep shock
deep grief
who will perform the ceremonies?
must work together with ghost-like white man
look after country
teach him law
take care of sacred places
faith broken
woodlands felled
wetlands drained
earth mined
totem animals killed
replaced by death-bringer’s strange bleating sheep
foxes, rats, rabbits, cats…
faith broken
country broken
heart broken
law broken
deep, deep grief
family dying;
animals, birds, trees, waterholes…
sacred places of the creator beings
of the Dreaming
all dying
sisters raped
daughters stolen
sons chained
shot
hung
clear creeks sullied by white man’s
faeces
sickness
gold tailings
cattle-trodden soil
bull shit
white man’s law
not earth law
not sacred
writ on flimsy paper
changes every time
never same
just more bullshit
Earth Law doesn’t change
cannot be crumpled
burnt
or rewritten
True Law
writ in earth
not on paper
people scattered
imprisoned
ridiculed
disrespected
who will perform the ceremonies?
maintain the Dreaming?
keep the law?
sorry business
so very, very
sorry
…
http://altsoundings.com/
scroll to “Song of Sorry” – recorded at
The Melbourne Didgeridoo Festival
on 11th April 2015. …...
…
peripatetic musings 
“Earth Law
doesn’t change
cannot be crumpled
burnt
or rewritten
True Law
writ in earth
not on paper”
This brings to mind: The only true Knowledge is Reality-Knowledge. It is not something you know, but something you are…
and, yes, so very, very sorry. Here in Morocco where I live now we are it is the second day of Ramadan, a month of reviewing and purifying one’s life. I am not sure how many of our Muslim countrymen and women take that part of Ramadan to heart, but we are noticing that everything is much more quiet – people staying at home and visiting with family. We are feeling it as a very contemplative time.
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thank you Tomas. Morocco… a place I would like to visit. I experienced my first Ramadan in Malaysia. There is a real sense of community when everyone fasts together and breaks fast together… must fast more myself…
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Hi Anne — Tomas’ wife, Alia, here. Such poignant words: arrows shot truly that found their marks in my being. Your poems are powerful transmissions of the images you see/sense/receive and then are able to share with us. Tomas played a short clip of your flute playing as well. Another form of poetry, exquisitely delivered. We are all being asked to perform the ceremonies now; we all have the duty of keeping sacred law. I believe it is our destiny to steward our Mother planet. We must all participate now or lose our option to be here. That is my vision for the restitution of this sacred world. All blessings to you, Alia
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“We are all being asked to perform the ceremonies now; we all have the duty of keeping sacred law. I believe it is our destiny to steward our Mother planet. We must all participate now or lose our option to be here.” Deep inhalation… yes. Thank you for your sharing here and your own “Enquire Within.” Staying true and focused and open… very hard sometimes. All strength to you and Tomas. I am off to have a hot bath now 🙂
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OOO — a hot bath — haven’t had one of those in 3 months. I’ll have to learn how to use the Hammams (bath house) which I hear are incredible. We just don’t happen to have one in this tiny village or Aouchtam. Enjoy yours — with pleasure!
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