KANGAROO TALES

I'm sitting up the tree today and I'm not getting down
I don't feel safe at school no more just 'cos my skin is brown.

If I sit here overnight will I turn into a bird?
So I can fly away from here and all the nasty words.

'Cos it's no fun being different, where do I fit in?
Some kids at school are nasty and their words have such a sting.

You half caste dog you coon you boong you stinking bloody abo
I don't know what these words mean they stab me like an arrow.

I asked the teacher to explain she just slapped me hard
and then when it was lunchtime I was pushed over in the yard.

So now I'm sitting up the tree I'll hide from everyone
I don't understand this place I'm only in grade one.

I was born Yankunytjatjara my mother is Yankunytjatjara her mother was Yankunytjatjara my family is Yankunytjatjara

I have learnt many things from my family elders I have frown to recognise that life travels in circles my aboriginal culture has taught me that universal life is circular

When I was born I was not allowed to live with my family I grew up in the white mans world

We lived in a square house we picked fruit and vegetables from a neatly fenced square plot we kept animals in square paddocks we sat on square chairs and ate at a square table I slept in a square bed I looked at myself in a square mirror and did not know who I was

One day I met my mother I began to travel I visited places that I had been before but this time I sat down with family

We gathered closely together by big round campfires we ate bush tucker feasting on round ants and berries we ate the meat of animals that lived in round burrows we slept in circles around our fires we sat on the dirt on our land that belongs to a big round planet we watched the moon grow to a magnificent yellow circle

I have learnt two different ways I am thankful for this it is part of my life circle

My heart is round like a drum ready to echo the music of my family but the square within me remains the square hole stops me in my entirety