I Remember what Remembers Me

Red dust on my shoes

Old fire ring

Black and blue

Grandmother’s hands trace the sky

Telling where the emu flies

We sit quiet in the smoke

Hear the names in every stone

Every tree

Every creek

Holds a face

Holds a voice we seek

I remember what remembers me

Country calling through the gums and heat

Aboriginal

Original heartbeat

Older than the maps they drew

I belong to this land

This land runs through

Every breath

Every step of me

Footprints in a dry riverbed

Stories painted

Brown and red

Kids laugh

Chasing shards of light

Kicking cans till the purple night

City signs on a stolen tongue

But the old words roll and run

Underneath the traffic roar

They’re still singing at the core

I remember what remembers me

Country calling through the gums and heat

Aboriginal

Original heartbeat

Older than the maps they drew

I belong to this land

This land runs through

Every breath

Every step of me

They say “history”

We say “family”

They say “border lines”

We say “songlines”

I remember what remembers me

Country calling through the gums and heat

Aboriginal

Original heartbeat

Older than the maps they drew

I belong to this land

This land runs through

Every breath

Every step of me