A NICE PLACE TO EAT AND DRINK

I contemplate this site

Imagine a few generations
back before buildings,
before roads, cars
or the bridge across
the lake,
before the Optometrist
used these rooms,
before Homestart and
Homebase, before
the Secret Gallery,
before the cement was
mixed and the slab laid,
before bricks and palings
of wood for windows, and doors.
Before the Reef Bar and Grill,
before the Box Fish,
before the white man came.

I see John Oxley and his men
carefully crossing the bar,
I see William Blake chopping
down a cabbage tree palm,
I see the spears lodge
in his shoulder and thigh,
I see the panic as they
bring him across to Dr Harris,
I see the fear on their faces, not
knowing what will happen next.

I see the Worimi sitting by
campfires on the banks,
I watch as they take their
canoes up the lake,
not wanting these strangers
to take their sacred
places and destroy them.

I contemplate this site

Remember walking on nearby
exposed soil, scattered with
stones tools and artefacts,
a significant archaeological
discovery, covered permanently
with a nice place to eat and
drink, if you can afford it!

Morganpoet