Island

in the dawn they aim to hang a man in the square

his crime a collision betwixt the antique and some strange hostile world coeval

the stars witnesses at his trial are mute banished at first light

in a blind travesty

a preacher reads words of comfort from the Holy Bible

perhaps a fragment of Ecclesiastes

but he is deaf to those sentiments and there be no ceremony of smoking leaves to ease his passage

in the distance combers groom the steel blue sea

and in a farewell ceremony of sorts

he is removed from existence

his manacles and chains fall away in a consolation and the earth captures them in a vice

the sea grows moody and dark

the Dreamtime beckons

then his soul

pristine as a wave crashes

is free

2 Comments

  1. Is this Rottnest penal colony? Very evocative. Misspelling of Ecclesiastes? ( a v clever reference though) MH

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    1. Thanks Marek, Indeed many aboriginal people were transported from the Kimberly or other warmer climes to provide slave labour on the salt mines at Rottnest. Most froze to death or caught influenza and died. They were cruelly housed in cells just 2 by 3 meters often more than one occupant. 5 inmates for crimes unspecified were hanged in the Quod, latterly a resort. Not so cheery David.

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