Copyright TJ Garvie

Richard Joseph Frankland is a playwright, scriptwriter and musician. He is an Aboriginal Australian of Gunditjmara origin from Victoria. He has worked as a soldier and a fisherman, and as a field officer to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Dear Richard,

Hey, it’s me, or you and me. You’re a teenager and I’m 51 now.

I’ve seen war, investigated deaths in custody, had typhoid, had bands, been a soldier, buried more family than I care to mention, fallen in love, out of love, laughed, danced, fallen over, got back up, cried big tears and sobbed hard. I’ve been a hero and I’ve failed. I’ve saved lives and changed lives. I’ve written books, albums, plays, films, poems some for the public and some secret ones.

I’ve had children.

They are beautiful. So beautiful that sometimes I cry just thinking of them.

What should I tell you?

Your brother Shane, you’ll never stop missing him. Same with your sister Linda, you’ll never stop missing both of them. You’ll never get over the grief. But it’s OK, ’cause later on you’ll learn that grief is love.

You’ll get your heart broken, a few times, and it will hurt. But you’ll learn from it, and believe me you learn to love again.

Our dad said to have a good sense of right and wrong, and even though he died when we were six, we must have remembered it from somewhere. Maybe when he was holding us when we were young. You’re going to help a lot of people. Some you’ll never know that you’ve helped. It will happen with your films, your speeches, your actions.

One day you’ll learn that it’s okay to be involved in so many people’s lives. To have so many people depend on you. Just remember, when life slaps you down, get up and slap the bastard back. Hard. Never give up. But know when to be graceful in defeat.

I love this poem: you’ll write it when you’re dead broke, and feeling lonely, and it will make you strong.

Singing to the World

Richard J Frankland

If I were to look back at this life of mine

At times of folly, foolishness

At times of joy and conquest

At times of sadness, times of repenting

Times of great victories and times of smaller ones

Both of equal importance and equal meaning

At times when the world had crashed and the scars on my soul

Were unequalled in pain and sorrow

I would smile at my silliness

Be embarrassed at my joy, my ego, my loves and losses

Celebrate my victories and my times of losing

rejoice in my recognition of the equality of a smile and the meaning of a gift and the beauty of a soul

I would shed tears at my times of sadness

And chase bittersweet memories across the dreamscape of the memories of my life

And finally I would lay exhausted with my heart laying rent open upon the hearth of my home

And I would sift through it searching for diamond drops of memories

And if one would see me in such a state

they would be prone to ask, ‘What would you change?’

Nothing, not one thing, I would say

Then, after a contemplative moment

Except I would say whilst challenging myself

Whilst drawing a sword of courage and casting aside a shield of shame

I would shout loudly to the world

I would have sung louder,

Smiled brighter

given harder

seen beauty quicker

shared smiles more often

hugged harder

loved better

I would learn to play my soul better

I would paint teardrops so I could find happiness easier

I would have danced with more abandon and with more people

And also rejoiced in dancing alone

I would laugh at the small problems so I could help solve the big ones

I would

see dreams in clouds and taste the future in morning dew

I would find thoughts profound in flames

And see the wondrous beauty in a small rock, a leaf, a single blade of grass in a piece of bark upon a tree.

From this I would know what makes a view majestic and a soul so small yet so big

I would worship the spirits of the untainted ones, the children, the meek, those unable to protect themselves

I would strive to heal the evils of the world and learn to love with an open hand

I would learn to write songs of humility and to plant seeds of hope and healing

Then I would turn to the one who asked the question and say

What about you? What will you change?

What should I tell you?

Dance, love, sing, be balanced, fall over, get back up, make the world a better place, play music, write, act, build, fall in love. With everyone, but mostly fall in love with yourself.

Best,

Richard