Image: Distillate of Tears by David Jones emicimages.com
By David Jones
This poem is from my book, The Taken, a series of photos and poems to highlight the trauma of our Stolen Generations.
DISTILLATE OF THE DETAINED
They quailed before the dark lantern
from the pule of despair
crystalline beads
lay unseen
facets of sorrow
reflect faces
still wet
SILENT TEARS FALL…
Through clouds of the past
transcend generations
into the nebulous of now
close your eyes
listen
let Song-Lines speak
in waves of sound
through veins of time
to feed the mind
as rivers flow
surrender silt
to tenuous currents
future’s sea
for how long
must the new-young remain
within cerulean tears
of those, the taken
“The dark lantern had an inbuilt arrangement to conceal its own light, and was used on the early modern stage to make invisibility visible, and to bring alive the sense of covertness in accessing knowledges that were meant to be hidden.”
About the author:
David’s working life was mostly spent in the Middle East and Asia, he was fortunate to have been in touch with different cultures: to be able to look at those cultures from (as far as possible) within that culture, a very important perspective made possible by living there, a perspective he has tried to maintain in his travels.
It is through this ‘emic’ view that he was able to, if not fully understand, to at least have a perspective through the eyes of those he was trying to appreciate.
His photography and poetry is mostly of people and cultures but also of their history, the ancient history, the story of mankind.
The basis for his writing is empathy toward the world around him, a need to speak of history, natural beauty and sadly injustice and repression, aspects of the human condition he met where he worked and lived.
David is releasing a book of photos and poetry concerning the Stolen Generations, in conjunction with this he is having a photographic exhibition in August 2023 at the Ballarat Photo Biennale.
Guenter
How dare you, David, create your word-spell to challenge my white middle-class ease and bring discomfort to my unquestioned ways at a time when our Indigenous brothers and sisters simply seek a Voice!
Ivor Steven
This is a powerful poem that cuts our unfeathered skin through to the skeletons of the past … well done David
Marina
So powerful and beautifully written.