[Early lexicographers and missionaries]

Early lexicographers and missionaries
translated the Arrernte altyerre as “God”
 
or “Dream,” in Warlpiri jukurrpa, meaning,
 
eternal uncreated mother country see
put fetch totemic time of creation eat
 
for breakfast story film sleep talk track
conceived come into being ancestors
 
roamed into existence spirit and law sites
springs water wheel bush tucker the story
 
in us, says an Arrernte elder, not a dream
like a fairytale dream, the presence of place
 
where knowledge begins celestial fires
what has happened and still happens
 
altyerre undreamt
altyerre kangaroo and honeyant
altyerre snake foot trail
 
Jesus and Mary, holy trinity, welcome
to the floating dream, “the World

his mother’s father’s country is what
Jesus called Altyerre,” says Wenten
Rubuntja, painter of law and song 
 
the changes and transformations