For the Blak kids

^{Latoya Aroha RULE
For the Blak Kids, 2022
single channel digital video, 2 min 31 sec}

^{Video: Ben Golotta}

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And at the end of time
when their blades are blunt
When shattered glass ceilings
Fall to surround them
Fall to
heavens gleam
to reveal the faces
of our beloveds
When the sky is black
And night stretches
south to far west
coast
When the red dust dances
In winds revived
And they
Our children
no longer fear their futures
But celebrate their victories

When cells are found
Only in membranes
Encased in tissue and skin
That folds with no less
Than hope
When weeping
Is shed
Only for compassion’s sake
And their tears with joy
When the bark is tightly wrapped
And no longer gathered
To petition
And when the tea tree lakes
Overflow
And healing is their compass

When justice is realised
And injustice slain
When the last king falls
And the queen is dead
When spit hoods are lifted
And don dale burned
And every ember
Sparkes the germination
Of a new path
A new day'

Make way
To remember them
For they laid down
Their lives
For us

May we enmesh them in gold
And bath them with frankincense
And smoke them with eucalyptus
And cloak them in etched possum skin
And may we crown them with the finest
Ochres

Yes
We will see them face to face
And our memories will no longer
Be held alone
But held in them

And as they walk
Beyond us
May they carry our names
With gladness
Remembering that we were grateful
And thankful
And gave everything
To prepare their way
to promised Land
To holy Land
To full Land
To their full inheritance
Their full Land
Remember them
For when they laid down
We laid beside them
To rest in our shared victory