Homage to Maiwar

Once it was called Maiwar
Home of the peacemaker platypus
Steering warring beasts
Towards peace and reconciliation.

Now it’s the Brisbane River
A slippery bendy brown beast
I think I’m in one place
Then discover I’m in another.

First Nations, convicts, free settlers
Ebb and flow like its tides
The river surges, retreats, resurges
Both giving and taking life.