In the Beginning

In the Beginning

In the Beginning (a short story)

I have for many years

been emotionally and spiritually

drawn by the nomadic lives of the ancient

Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia.

This story explores the deepest wounds gouged

into their hearts and souls for generations after the

coming of the ‘civilised’ white man.

We may all recognise the feelings of loss and longing.

In our lives perhaps we too are denied an essential

dimension which was once our inheritance.

In our deepest sub-conscious we are all aware that this is not how it was meant to be. Questions abound......

Extract from In the Beginning

He could almost feel the warmth of her breath on his cheek. How he had loved to sit on her knee as tales of the ancestors coloured his grey young life. His favourite story of all was the tale of the Rainbow Serpent. It had been passed from generation to generation since time began. The tale had always intoxicated him with the joy of family and friends, and the security of his people on the land the serpent had created. The story of the creation of an almost perfect world that his generation would never know. In the beginning, that beautiful, magical and timeless serpent had carried within her rainbow body every star in the black night sky. She bore every bird whose song had filled the arid air. Her body oozed every drop of the precious waters which gave life to an otherwise dead desert. She created every mountain and the vast oceans which he’d still never crossed; everything that existed. In the cool sunny haze of dawn during the hypnotic dreaming, his great ancestors had never tired of telling the stories of the great serpent’s epic creation of our Earth. How from utter nothingness, from a featureless, flat, grey and cold land slowly unfolded the most complex, colourful, living planet Earth. A planet within a vast star system that expanded every night beyond all imagination. An Earth so full of wonder and contrasts; beauty and ugliness, sublime security and extreme danger, friendship and foes. The glorious Earth that had such power in its ability to adapt and survive; yet such fragility as the precious planet was subjected to greater forces from within and beyond. Like a reptilian goddess, the serpent had provided everything needed for an Earth of infinite possibility, for an all encompassing marriage of earth, fire, wind and water, of the animate and inanimate, of spirit and energy. He understood from his grandmother that even the dreaming itself resides in the sacredness of the Earth.

As he adjusted his aching body on the hard bench he felt a great sadness. His heart yearned. How he longed to experience the times his grandmother loved to talk about. He still remembered some of the songs she had taught him. Even his mother used to join in singing in the days before she lost hope. Now he could only imagine the haunting ancient sounds of groups of families all singing together. He saw and felt their bodies swaying in .........

Pictured here with Tim Bowler are: Irena Popiolek whose story was Highly Commended, Wendy Clark (writing as Kim Carson) who was the overall winner and Louisa Popiolek - daughter of Irena, whose story was also Highly Commended.

Dreams and Dreaming Book Launch

“There are some writers who have a special gift. It’s not something you can learn, either you have it or you don’t. When I read ‘In The Beginning’, I knew Irena had this talent.” Tim Bowler