Has anyone heard of Jimmy Clements?

I did as I drank coffee from a chipped mug

Aunty sitting in a broken office chair

Her feet splayed on the dusty ground

The fire is low but the heat

Mirrors the fervour in her eyes.
In the parliamentary triangle

A fire burns

Hegemonic history says since 1972

But I heard another tale

And I watched as the proof

was scattered, charred and lost.
Burnt, crumpled photos

and yellowing newspapers

swept away in the same

inexorable wind

that tried to scatter the people

but could not.
Has anyone heard of Jimmy Clements?

I did as I gathered twigs for the fire

Surrounded by tributaries

Of concrete and metal

An ancient undertaking

In a modern world.
In 1927 parliament house was opened

The duke and duchess of York attended

Their finery and pomp

A cavalcade of wealth

Met a barefoot man

And his loyal dogs.
Has anyone heard of Jimmy Clements?

The Duke did when he met him

Acknowledging Jimmy’s sovereignty

Of the stolen land they stood upon

A sideshow to the ceremony

But no less weighty for all that.