:: Tributes ::
A Songline for Minoru
a songline for minoru
Tony Birch
a red vein on a body of dark bitumen
leads the way to the emptiness of the crematorium
but still I feel myself lost along
a boundary weave of hard wire
while drifting away with thoughts of you
I stayed together with the light
it rested with ease on my shoulder
this warmth had come to meet me
and it was Mino telling me to hold my sadness
as within this quiet waited the moment
of his journey
in the wooden boat you laid down
sleeping quietly with your song
resting eye-lids, lips and heart
in the shroud of a skin you built
to ease your body from home to home
to home
when you left you carried with you
the land of our loved children
touching the soles of your feet
lifting the flight of your soul
we send you on your way
with a new song your companion
its voice will circle back to us ---
to where all we know
we know more of now
through the beauty of you
Mino, our friend, loved friend
we will meet with you
in the rhythm of this song ---
it sways your life within each of us
Mino is here
when we come
to speak with others
to call to ourselves
he is with us
when we rest
he is with us
Mino is here!Mino is here!Mino!* This poem was published in "Cultural Studies Review" Volume 10 Number 2 September 2004
Special Thanks to Tony Birch, Chris Healy and Stephen Muecke
