The Indigenous Artist Magazine Issue 2 - May 2017 | Page 70

Hey guys, Steven Oliver here. I would like to share this poem with you, which i wrote and dedicated to the belated Tiger Bayles. His influence went beyond BIMA's walls and I thought it would be only fitting that I write a poem for him as he was always a great supporter of my work.

Ancestral Flame

Black spirit that could not be tamed

Now brighter glows, ancestral flame

So freely soar among our old

While here on earth your deeds are told

The deeds born of caring heart

A heart whose fire is unsurpassed

For love of your people fanned the flame

The righty earned the warrior name

You fought the struggle, there was no choice

And in our loss, we found your voice

And so you spoke, that all may hear

The plight of those you hold so dear

And led you not, yet showed the way

To a time of our ancestral days

Reminding me I must reject

The deeds and words of disrespect

You spoke, I woke, my chains were broke

Your acts of fearlessness invoked

This greater sense of who I am

And made of me a greater man

You gifted all, courageous heart

A light of might through the times of dark

A champions voice to those unheard

Who delivered fools their scorn deserved

And the truth, you are not gone

You’ll live till there are no more dawns

You will not face mortality

Your name etched in black history

A history, that stronger is

For the simple fact that you have lived

And now on history’s corridor

You stand there proud, a warrior

Bet let you rest, your fight is fought

Let is carry on through all you taught

As memories come to firmly hold

The ways of you, the ways of old

And so it is, this sense of pride

A dignity that’s now amplified

A black spirit that cannot be famed

So brightly glow, ancestral flame

Ancestral Flame

By Steven Oliver

Photo Credit: abc.net.au