THROW MY LUCK / TYXH

They told him he would make it
παππού don’t feel the end
they told him ‘take a ticket’
say a goodbye to friends
he kissed his mama sweetness
before he left for Egypt
his mama’s my papa's papa's papa’s mama
it’s deep shit

So deep I hardly speak it
a little fear in pockets
a little silver locket
a lot of tears up in them sockets
those diamonds from the eye
aligning stars upon the night
and frightened by the lonely light
that’s shining through the smoked horizon
Alexandria, was only just the first stop
from Egypt came a month at sea
sent like mail to a post box
like a letter with no envelope
just enveloped by the rain
the tears of ink drain
replace the canvas on the frame

They landed on the island
no welcome note or hug
the sky as grey as Melbourne
the earth as red as blood
Μετανάστες on the ocean
bags packed for the night
a night turned into life
I return to make it right 

//

I throw my luck upon the ground
so she can feel the earth
give her thorns to wear — it hurts
so we remember birth
wrap her body up in flames
just to drop her in the sea
my luck and me, we argue over memories

//

They left from village morning
for days to get to boat
they left from olive trees
in a puff of shisha smoke

That place from which they came
dangerous because of snakes
until they brought the deer
and they became the symbol of the state
Italians colonised
and the Turks, they’d been there too
crusaders built cities on cities of the ancient few 
So when my people left
never to return
they’d sing them songs of magnets
that pull them on a search

And so the greatest of the great
lucky country, cutting trees
man to man
like he was slicing nationalities
in a country of animals he’d never seen
a snake found him
and pulled my παππού to his knees

//

I throw my luck upon the ground
so she can feel the earth
I give her thorns to wear — it hurts
so we remember birth
I wrap her body up in flames
just to drop her in the sea
my luck and me, we argue over memories