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  3. Freedom and Pain

Freedom and Pain

By Ayush C

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Published 27 June 2023

Once peacefully sitting on a tree

Now, painfully surviving

Is the great koala

Longing to be free

Once peacefully sitting on a tree

 

Project

POEM FOREST

Poem Forest

2023 Submissions

Author

  • Ayush C

    Penrith High School
    Year 7
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Ngurambang yali – Country speaks
~ Jeanine Leane

It’s been too long since I sat on granite in my
Country and thought

Too many years since I breathed this air—
Bunyi-ng—ganha
Felt this dirt—Ngamanhi Dhaagun
Smelt this dust—Budha—nhi Bunan

Listened for the sounds of her words that say
‘Balandha—dhuraay Bumal-ayi-nya Wumbay
abuny (yaboing)’—History does not have the
first claim. Nor the last word.
Nghindhi yarra dhalanbul ngiyanhi gin gu 
‘You can speak us now!’

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