Nungali Posted December 15, 2019 We are all falling down Tumbling and spinning Through a blind whirlpool, Arms and legs whirling, Passing faces Whose blank expressions Show patient resignation. We sat high up on rocks Above the plain Looking over to the western sky Where the harsh light Outlined giant fleecy clouds In burning silver. We contemplated our lost past, Our youthful paradise, Our now broken, Extended family tribes. We talked of children, elders, violence, Pollution and ecology. “No one cares anymore,” Said Billy, his black skin Squinting around his eyes Shielding them from the burning light, “It was a peak before, We were on top of the world then, Like we are now, looking down.” I looked, squinting, at the burning clouds. Yes, I thought to myself, and still do We were on top of a wave then, Laughing, surging. But as time went on The wave started to break. Our position on the sine wave of life Moved from the peak And slid towards the trough But as we started to slide down The pattern changed, The line, the slide, Dropped away faster each year Until now we are almost vertical And are no longer sliding. We are falling down, Tumbling and spinning Through a slow whirlpool Arms and legs whirling, Passing faces Whose blank expressions Show patient resignation. Reveal hidden contents ... I found an old flash drive full of poetry and stories 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ilumairen Posted December 15, 2019 16 hours ago, Nungali said: Reveal hidden contents ... I found an old flash drive full of poetry and stories Plan on sharing more? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted December 15, 2019 More falling ? This one is a true story ; She stepped off! Oh God! How could she have done that? What space must your head be in to be able to do that? She stepped off, I imagine, calm and serene, not screaming and clawing and falling down, down but streaming through the layers of swirling mist to the rainforest floor below; like a rainbow arching down to ground itself in the earth. She stepped off beside the plunging waterfall, at the top of the vast vertical rock abyss, at the head of the steep, deep, twisting serpentine gorge. Right at the top of the world, rright at the top of her world, she stepped off. Right at the top of her world, young, beautiful and healthy, (they told me) the last person in the world you would ever imagine that would do such a thing. I have stood on that very spot and tentatively peered over the edge into that vast vertical chasm, watching the water racing down and turn to spray and felt that urge to fly myself, down to the rainforest below and quivered and tried to inch back from that spot, the inexorable force drawing me down to where the tops of the giant rainforest trees are bunched together like far away broccoli. "Get away from there!" a voice shouted. I turned (without falling) the old 'Uncle' emerged from the bush. He took my arm, pulled me from the edge and looked deep into my eyes. We sat staring into each other by the swirling pool, his black, crystal eyes surveying my pain, his dark skin wrinkled from searching my face. "It's the tail of the Rainbow Serpent." Gunabar told me. "The twisted gorge is his body. You have to be careful here, you'll fall right into it." He talked. I asked questions. He looked at me- through me. "You ask me questions, questions about energies and places. I'd say to you ...” Gunabar said to me, "... It's all about love. It all comes down to love, from your heart." And then I heard the story for the first time. "Not long ago a young white girl from around here, stepped off the edge.... It's not the first time. She was happy they said. Nice girl, good job, nice car. Why did she do it? They didn't understand. She left a note at the top, I found that note,; 'I couldn’t find love anywhere,' it said ‘the only place I could find love was here'. That's all it said. She left that note at the top of the waterfall and stepped off." My heart was shaking, my eyes watering, a giant ball of emotion was surfacing from some deep part inside myself. I looked down the valley. I turned and looked into Gunabar's eyes. They were like black far away pools, they were like places I have never seen. "The white people didn't understand, I understand." he told me. "They had a service at the top of the falls, they floated flowers in the pool at the top. I floated a broken branch and a broken boomerang - - symbols of a broken life. My offering went over the edge. The flowers didn’t, they got stuck in a whirlpool at the top, I gently pushed them over the edge with a stick." I have since returned and stood in that very place, high above the clouds and been drawn again to that roaring air. That same place where Gunabar told me that story. Not at the edge beside the falls but around the side, near the lookout where you can see the whole drop. And I can’t help thinking what space must your head be in to be able to do that? The shock of the first news is still there. It probably always will be there. She stepped off... Oh God, how could she? So now I sit, inexorably drawn and look at the view, the drop, the falls and I imagine that young, beautiful girl, that child of nature, feeling so much love but finding it nowhere else, gazing out over the mountains, head held high, standing on the edge, beside the plunging, roaring, drawing water and gently...stepping on the air. I imagine her calm and serene, smiling and streaming down, down, the spark of her soul a streaming meteor accelerating through the air, down, down through the layers of swirling mist, hurtling towards the far away now zooming closer broccoli forest below. Not screaming and falling down but plunging, unstoppable, totally committed into love. ............... Ellenbourough Falls 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
