A little chocolate girl sits upon her daddy’s lap
Wrapped in midnight arms, her back against his chest they inhale saltwater breezes
While the seagulls dance before them
Eyes closed the rushing of casuarinas standing guard along the water’s edge lull them to sleep
And welcome this little chocolate girl home
And through his glowing white beard her daddy exhales stories of the land
The sea, and how she came to be
He weaves… life, death, dreaming and sunsets
Sunrises and the morning star, points to the east, hand spread
Speaks with his fingers, a detailed web against the Carpentaria sky
Eyes wide, her eyes wide, her ears wider, thirsty for history and culture
Gulping each new story
Basking in the beauty of the land the water before them
A little chocolate girl sits on her daddy’s lap
Wrapped in midnight arms
He taps his leg, the beat of our people’s songlines
He hums a tune of home, their melody
Notes she will never forget, a harmony etched forever in her memory
And she’s only 6, only been away for 3 years but already the land calls her home,
Her home, has waited for her toes to kiss the sand, her hands to caress the land that will one day revive and revitalise her spirit, her soul
And the water will refill her empty mould, sculpt her, sand away destructive days and set her spirit free
Her Island home
Her daddy, calls ger galikali, tells her yaka worries, points to her dolphins out at sea waving with their fins, calling on the manta rays to come in
and say hello
A little chocolate girl sits on her daddy’s lap
Wrapped in midnight arms
When the little girl leaves the sand and sea, returns to the city, her daddy’s song remains vivid
A colourful bouquet of memory lane, she’ll grow up with his words and his song breathing home into her lungs
Visions of dark bodies winding through oceans, tackling waves, one with the sea
This little girl will yearn for those memories.
She will sing her daddy’s song to sleep at night and when the mirrors of her life are white, when the sea within her body becomes grey buildings stacked high like odds, she will remember being
A little chocolate girl sitting on her daddy’s lap
Wrapped in midnight arms
