Our Stolen River

• Hayley Lark, Grade 6, Boneo Primary School
• Poetry
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Word Zone 2016' competition

River ebbs through the forest peaceful quietly streaming,
Turquoise, cool, fresh like a river only to be dreaming.
My people tell us stories about how white folk took it away,
And the clear blue water was taken away from us that day.
When they first sailed to our land we thought they were ghosts,
White and bleak to daunt upon us with their massive boats.
One by one they came to voyage upon our shore,
They never seem to stop sailing just adding even more.
Some thought they were spirits others saw them as a curse,
Wiping us out with desease it keeps on getting worse.
Then one day while hunting a man came into a ghost,
The ghost seemed confused mind-boggled at most.
The ghost saw a kangaroo and pointed at it with his peculiar stick,
A boom bellowed out the middle and the kangaroo was shot dead quick.
They were different from us, called us animals instead of man,
They made us work, took away our kids, and took away our homeland.