Comfort Zone

COMFORT ZONE!

I lived inside a discomfort zone

For most of my years on earth.

I've felt self-conscious dancing,

Ever since my birth.

(Well, maybe not since birth, of course!

For at that early age,

Kicking my legs up in the air

Was  certainly the rage!)

But, ever since my discerning years,

I've felt a perfect fool

Trying to dance like the other girls

Who pranced about at school.

I always felt off-balance

And as though I were pigeon-toed,

While other girls were light as air

And dancing 'a la mode,'

It's not that I was ever shy......

I'm a show-off, truth to tell.

But dancing left me feeling 'spare'

For I couldn't do it well.

When ballroom dancing came along

My feet still misbehaved

But I simply 'followed' where strong men led

And thus my 'face' was saved.

I've been a staunch 'non-dancer'

In every amateur show,

And I've always 'moved' instead of 'danced'

While placed in the back row!

This involved doing hand-rolls,

Or perhaps an easy sway;

Neither of these movements

Added much to the play!

*

But now I'm geriatric

And I've entered a different phase!

Not for me the hand-rolls!

I'm not the one who sways!

I admit I'm not too agile!

I admit I'm not too lithe!

But I intend to dance, my friends,

Till the Old Man comes with the scythe!

Those girls who danced so serenely

And did such pirouettes,

Are just as old as I am,

And no longer sweet coquettes.

We kick up our heels in 'The Lambeth Walk',

When asked to, in the choir.

Our choreography isn't great

But you should see us perspire!

'All things come to those who wait'....

As I wish I'd always known!

 See!  I'm dancing, dancing, dancing , Mum!

I'm in my Comfort Zone!

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BRAN NUE DAY!

(The title if an all-Aboriginal musical.)

They have lived here

Since the end of

The last Ice Age,

Forty thousand years ago!

Captain Cook,

A 'Johnny-come-Lately',

Came here

Just over two hundred years ago!

Since then

'We' have been White!

'They are from the Stone Age!' 'we' said.

They were

Dispossessed,

Victimised,

Slaughtered,

Infected,

Raped,

Imprisoned!

They were also treated kindly.....

But on a lesser scale.

'We' are a nation of Twenty Million.

'They' are a nation of Twenty Thousand.

'We' say

'But they hadn't progressed at all!'

Look where progress has got us!

In debt!

Out of luck!

Choking on our own progress!

They had no need of progress.

The Earth gave them

All they needed....

Food, Warmth, Water.

They thanked the Earth

By being kinder to it

Than we were to them.

Our worst sin was taking away

Their self-respect.

From this arose problems

With drink, violence,

And worse.

People of goodwill everywhere

Long for them to have

A 'Bran Nue Day!'

*

Bran Nue Dae tells the story of Willie, a young man growing up in the pearl fishing region of Broome. His mother Theresa, who has high hopes for him, sends him to a religious mission for further schooling. Willie is kicked out by the school after an incident and ends up meeting Uncle Tadpole. Together they con a couple of hippies into taking them back to Broome where more revelations await.  

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