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dead land red
they are on the beach
with their ancestors
and spears
they are on the beach
in this bicentential year
telling cook to take his
gifts and go
i am on the beach
at botany bay that
same day
when the land died
i smell its great drying end
from far inland
i don't go near it
it has changed its face
dead land red lost
its soul without a whisper
of protest
i listen but the koories are still
we are on the beach
without a land
i listen to a giant red corpse
too still
to stir in its grave |