Oodgeroo Noonuccal's apt metaphor for the plight of the aborigines: "The Municipal Gum Tree"...
Le gommier de la Municipalite - Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's Municipal Gum Tree by T Wignesan
[Automatic re-translation into English edited for effect...]
Le gommier qui se trouve sur la rue de la ville,
Le bitume autour de tes pieds,
Il vaudrait mieux que tu sois
Dans le monde des espaces fraiches entouré d’arbres feuillus
de la forêt
Et des chants des oiseaux sauvages.
Ici tu me parais
Comme ce pauvre cheval de trait-là
Castré, démoli, une chose écartée et damnée,
Harnaché et bouclé, c’est l’enfer prolongé,
Dont la tête baissée et le mien fade exprime
L’espoir à jamais perdu.
Le gommier de la ville, c’est douloureux
De t’apercevoir ainsi
Figé dans ta pelouse noircie de bitume –
O concitoyen,
Qu’est-ce qu’ils ont fait de nous?
Le gommier de la Municipalite - Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's Municipal Gum Tree by T Wignesan
Gum tree sitting on the street of the city,
Bitumen around your feet,
It would be better if you were in the world of cool spaces
Surrounded by leafy trees of the forest
And the songs of wild birds.
Here you recall
That poor draft horse
Castrated, demolished, a thing spread-eagled and damned,
Harnessed and shackled.
This is prolonged hell,
And whose head downcast, bland mien expressing hope forever lost.
Gum tree of the city, it's painful
To see you thus
Frozen in your turf, blackened with bitumen –
O! fellow citizen!
What did they do with us?
Bonjour Ron ! Tried the net with your link for the film: couldn't find any available. No matter, I did watch it in some remote smoke-filled hall in my toddling days alright. THANKS for elevating Oodgeroo's extended (telescoped metaphor) into a symbol. Just wondered if the "Gum Tree" or the "spurned and shackled Horse" could be symbolic of the Amer-Indian or Afro-American's similar plight??? Not complaining, mind you...
While on the subject, I must say I wasn't in the least "amused" by the way you were "savaged" on AD by a fellow_essayist in the "articles" columns. I should think he should mind his language and "reasoning powers" at that...
I love the symbolism expressed in this poem of how we so called humans have "civilized creatures and plants to our bidding (and that could include our fellow humans, too). We either torture or confine them. Making them lead miserable lives for our benefit.
Recent studies show that matriarch ancient trees, with their extensive root systems, help the forest around them flourish through underground communication.
Do horses cry? In their own way when we beat them, castrate them, and force them into hard labor in the heat and cold of summer and winter. But they do that to humans, too, don't they? They shoot horses, don't they?
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While on the subject, I must say I wasn't in the least "amused" by the way you were "savaged" on AD by a fellow_essayist in the "articles" columns. I should think he should mind his language and "reasoning powers" at that...
Recent studies show that matriarch ancient trees, with their extensive root systems, help the forest around them flourish through underground communication.
Do horses cry? In their own way when we beat them, castrate them, and force them into hard labor in the heat and cold of summer and winter. But they do that to humans, too, don't they? They shoot horses, don't they?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Shoot_Horses,_Don%27t_They%3F_(film)
Ron