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.