Red Face Man

Red face man don’t smile with his teeth but he clench my hand 

like a purinina grips a bird by the neck.

Me and the bird the same – 

Made the same promise whether we holler or hold our breath. 

We gotta go somewhere else – 

The bird from light to black – 

Me from this place to some other. 

Red face man got a lot to say but he don’t mean none of it.

Promise a hut, a fence, a place to look up at the sky and call out to Him – 

Him who we don’t know – 

Him who is no one to us. 

Red face man tell us the future. 

He don’t read our eyes but we see the future too – 

Whitefellas crawling outta the ground with bugs commin’ outta their brains

Pointin’ up to the sky

Reachin’ out for somethin’ or someone.

But nothin’ come to the red face man 

No hand come from the clouds – 

No ladder.

And we see – 

When he not lookin’ 

A girl who comes down down down the line

Who got history hangin’ over her head

In the stars and the air

Drippin’ off the moon and landin’ in her brain. 

And she feel the grip on her wrist 

But she shake it off

And she laugh at the man

till she red in the face.

Commissioned in partnership with National Gallery of Australia in response to a work of art in the national collection, Dylan selected Benjamin Duterrau’s painting, Mr Robinson's first interview with Timmy (1840)