Wäŋa Marrkapmirr (My Beloved Homeland)

~ Dhuwal interpretations provided by Barayuwa Mununggurr

Baman’ ŋarra marrtjindja

Wäŋgany gunha’yun

Barrkulil wängŋalil ŋarra marrtjindja

Ga bayŋu’yan ŋarra ruŋiyin wäŋalil gupuḏalny

Warwuyuna ŋarra yukurra dhuwal

Moṉuk’kun gapu ga dhäruk’gun ŋanharawu

Waŋganymirr ŋarra ruŋiyirrny

Yan gurriri, gurriri

Marrkapmirr Wäŋa

Ŋarra buku-wikam nhuna

Bili baḏak nhe ŋarrak galkun yukurra

Baythi ŋarra gayulny nhokal winya’yun

My feet stopped dancing

Numb to your powerful clapping beneath them,

my song fell stagnant, swampy water, mosquitoes swarmed around me clouding my vision

the clouds turned dark, open fired pellets of purity upon me, but I galikali

Gakarrarr - once playful nomad of salt and sand

Of mawarraki casuarinas standing guard of the land

I flew

Flew from you, from fear of the breaths I took, the milky way within my chest not yet ready to swallow all your stars, not home enough to breath them into your night skies

Wäŋa marrkapmirr, I fled

And with baṉumbirr in my eyes, lighting my darkness each time my eyelids kissed

Born Mana, always will I be, thrashing my way gracefully through waters that don’t recognise,

             waters that chastise,

                          waters that dehumanize,  

                                       waters where I don’t belong

But waiting patiently on the horizon of unknown waters sits my song

calling me home

The embrace of sleeping moon and waking sun

I thank you

For still you wait for me

Even when I fled

This poem features along with 60 other First Nations poems commissioned by Red Room Poetry in our latest anthology Guwayu – For All Times.