Aborigines and the Australian Justice System

The following post appeared on Blak and Black today under the title Aborigines and the Australian Justice System I thought it worth sharing with my followers.

For very many Aboriginal
Australians the phrase Australian justice system is an oxymoron. There are any
number of reasons, many of which are justified, why we as Aboriginal
Australians think of the Australian ‘just-us’ system as being exactly as it
says, a system that is just for us, which if you are an Aboriginal only serves
to further entrench your marginalization. The following exchange between a
Canberra based public prosecutor and a senior Canberra based public servant illustrates
the point well.
“You don’t have to worry about your little boong
mate Marky [the former Commissioner for ACT Revenue] suing you for fitting him
up. When I’m finished with him he’ll be in the gutter where he belongs with all
his other boong mates. You will be able to piss on him as you step over him on
your way to work” (Exchange
between ACT DPP Prosecutor[i] to ACT Department of Treasury
Official)
As
reprehensible and personally insulting to every Aboriginal Australian the
aforementioned comment is, it highlights a more sinister undertone within the
Australian psyche, that of systemic and institutionalised racism, my topic for
today.
Before I
venture into today’s topic, it is worth mentioning that the Prosecutor who
uttered the aforementioned words has worked as a prosecutor in a number of Australian
jurisdictions, in which capacity he would have come into contact with large
numbers of Aboriginal clients. Given that the role of the DPP is to ensure a
fair and unbiased trial for the defendant, there is prima face evidence that this Prosecutor has failed in that role,
when dealing with Aboriginal clients. As such, I call on all jurisdictions in
which this Prosecutor has worked to reopen all cases which he has been involved
in where the defendant was an Aboriginal Australian, with a view to giving each
convicted Aboriginal defendant, who had the aforementioned Prosecutor as their prosecutor
a fresh trial.
This being
said, many if not most racist attitudes are underpinned by systemic factors;
individual racist attitudes do not exist in a vacuum: they generally draw upon
collective or culturally embedded images, stereotypes and representations of
Aboriginal people. Individuals, particularly
those who are part of an institutionalised culture, such as the public service
or the police, may feel empowered in their racism because that may feel that
their behaviour is implicitly, if not officially, sanctioned within their
organisation. Tackling systemic and institutionalised racism requires a cultural
shift in the approach agencies take to Indigenous clients, one where
Aboriginality identity is not denied, ignored as irrelevant, or – worse still -
viewed as the problem when agencies deal with Aboriginal clients.
Unlike the
rest of Australia, in particular the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria has
mechanisms in place to monitor institutionalised practices and has created a
reform environment. Rates of Aboriginal over-representation are lower in
Victoria than in other jurisdictions with considerable efforts being made to
change agency practices and empower Aboriginal communities. The Aboriginal
Justice Forum, the RAJAC
system and linked process under the Aboriginal Justice Agreement, are a model
for both Indigenous involvement and inter-agency cooperation; as such they
constitute models of best practice for other jurisdictions to follow.
Similarly, the Indigenous Issues Unit in the Department of Justice plays an
invaluable role in sustaining the RAJAC process while ensuring that there is
coordination between community initiatives and broader justice policy. This linkage
is extremely important. So too is the linkage between justice policy and the ‘underlying
issues’ which have such a profound influence on life chances of Indigenous
people.
The current
situation in relation to Aboriginal over-representation in Australia’s ‘just-us’
system is a result of an array of historical and social factors, rooted in the
unique experiences of Aboriginal Australians, who have suffered over two
centuries of injustice, denial of cultural and genocide at the hands of an alien
culture imposed on us by a white and prejudiced colonising power. This has
resulted in a dynamic inter-play between criminal justice and social-structural
factors. Aboriginal people from whom I have taken statements were keen to point
out that many of the underlying causes of these social-structural factors – including
health, housing and employment – needed to be addressed before there would be
any far-reaching and sustainable reductions in rates of Aboriginal
overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. These can only be tackled
through improved forms of partnership between Aboriginal communities and all
levels of government, in an environment free of racial stereotypes and systemic
and institutionalised prejudice.
Mental
Health Issues in Aboriginal Communities
When
considering the impact that institutionalised racism has on Aboriginal
Australian’s and the long term implications of this for the socio-economic
outcomes for the Aboriginal community combined with the obvious flow-on effects
to justice policy, it is worth considering the real social cost of white
injustice for this discreet group within the wider Australian community.
A number of
times during my consultations with individual Aborigines and Aboriginal
organisations I was told that Aboriginal deaths in custody statistics are not a
good barometer of the health of Aborigines in the ‘just-us’ system. This is
because, in custody, there is significantly less opportunity for self-harm and
greater surveillance to prevent self-harm, “but the intent is often still
there.” Suicide, it was argued, may be displaced into other contexts and
settings. In the words of one respondent, a former prisioner:
Aboriginal
people still die in custody but it’s hidden - they suicide before they get to
court, or in the mental health system. Either that or they just become mentally
and psychologically dead, by dying inside.
Several Aboriginal
respondents to my request for statements in support of my proposed application
to the United Nations argued, in relation to Aboriginal deaths in custody, that
it is too restrictive to look at deaths in correctional facilities. Self-harm
in “kindred institutions of forced confinement[ii]”
such as the mental health system, as well as correctional facilities, should
also be considered as they are part of an overall context shaped by extreme marginalisation.
It follows that post-release suicide should also be counted; a view supported
by research showing a significant death rate amongst people serving community
sentences in Victoria[iii].
These views were coupled with a deeply held conviction that society itself is a
kind of prison.
Whites
don’t see that society is a prison for some Koori kids.
There was a
sombre and fatalistic recognition by some youths of the consequences of their
life-styles, life-styles that are the outcomes of over two centuries of marginalisation,
discrimination and abuse and the hands of white Australia and its ‘just-us’
system:
It goes
like this: paint – ganja – petrol – speed – pills - heroin – dead.
If white Australians were able to put their prejudices aside for just a
moment and consider the implications of what has been said above, namely that: “Whites
don’t see that society is a prison for some Koori kids” Australian society
as a whole would realise what this statement really means and the implications
it has for the reconciliation process.
Many young Aborigines
are subject to child protection as well as juvenile justice orders. There has
been some criticism that child protection workers “de-allocated” cases as soon as
there was involvement with juvenile justice. Juvenile Justice staff suggested that
this may be due, in part at least, to caseload pressures generated by mandatory
reporting. Whatever the reasons, the real losers of this process of “de-allocation”
are Aboriginal youth, or those Aboriginal youth who are most a risk of becoming
long term victims of white Australia’s ‘just-us’ system.
Best
practice Model
Victoria has
the lowest rate of remands in custody for young people in Australia. This appears
to be attributable to the general juvenile justice culture within the State and
also to the parameters of relevant legislation. For example, section 128 of the
Children and Young Persons Act 1989 (CYPA) requires cases to proceed by way of summons
“except in exceptional circumstances”; and section 129 limits remands in custody
to 21 days at any court appearance.
However, it
is central to the notion of systemic racism that even where general figures may
appear positive, they can obscure specific areas of concern.[iv]
During Blak and Blacks information gathering process, many Aborigines raised
concerns that remands were sometimes used by the police and the courts as a method
of “back door sentencing”; which appeared to be more prevalent with rural and
Aboriginal youth than with white metropolitan youth. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that while some Aboriginal youth spent the 3 weeks contemplated by the CYPA,
others had served much longer periods on remand. Respondents believed that this
type of “back door sentencing” was a form of punitive remand designed to “give
the community a break”. If bail is being used in this way, it is an improper
use of the system and is a form of racially motivated corruption by police and
the courts.
One of the
main focuses of Blak and Black’s research has been to try to understand the
forms and levels of systemic and institutionalised racism that operate within
the Australian ‘just-us’ system and public service, as opposed to the overt or
direct racism that we as Aborigines experience every day of our lives at the
hands of a so called free and democratic Australian society. Interestingly,
when Blak and Black began taking statements from younger Aborigines who had
just completed periods in detention, they immediately complained that they had been
subject to direct racism within the system. This included racist language from
police, which is an area of concern raised by Blak and Black on numerous occasions.
They also claimed that staff in detention facilities had used racist language
to them and gave examples of racially insensitive attitudes and behaviour.
How this
type of racism can be justified in a modern correctional service which has as
its primary objective ‘reintegration’ of offenders is beyond Blak and Black’s
understanding and points to the fact that the ‘just-us’ system is racist to the
core, which is just another way of saying that corruption rules in Australia’s ‘just-us’
system. The supposed objective of ‘reintegration’ is especially true of
juvenile justice, which has always placed a stronger focus on rehabilitation as
opposed to punishment. ‘Reintegration’ itself presupposes that the people were
‘integrated’ in the first place which is in itself an issue of building on
pre-existing resources. The questions of integration and building pre-existing
resources become somewhat problematic when dealing with people who are alienated
from both the black and white communities because of systemic injustice in the ‘just-us’
system.
This helps
to explain Aboriginal cynicism about the programs offered in detention.
Aborigines generally express the belief that these programmes fail to meet
their needs and are generally “boring”.
Aboriginal
youth particularly point to the fact that juvenile justice workers didn’t give them
enough support when detained in prison, or on release and believed that the
programs they were offered did not always fit their specific needs.
Juvenile
Justice Staff in turn complained that there are inadequacies post-release support
services, particularly in the country where such services are “thin on the
ground” and highly dispersed. ‘Reintegration’ was likewise hampered by a
shortage of educational opportunities for Aboriginal youth.
A number of
Aboriginal youth respondents to Blak and Black also reported that they were so
cut off from the Aboriginal community that it was not always possible to
reintegrate. They believed that they had been stigmatised in their local
community, many also stated that they had been involved in local programmes and
had run out of options. Furthermore, many Aboriginal youth said that they didn’t
want too much Aboriginal involvement: many from the city were involved in
street subcultures and didn’t want Aboriginal specific services. They don’t
self-identify as Aboriginal.
This self-denial
of culture on the part of Aboriginal youth is itself indicative of the success
of Australia’s programme of subtle genocide which aims at separating the
individual from their communities which in turn eventually destroy individual
communities and renders true the maxim of Terra
Nullius for all time. Naturally if the concept of Terra Nullius becomes fact in truth as well as in myth, then
Australia will have succeeded in achieving something that not even Nazi Germany
could achieve – the systematic and complete destruction of a culture in the
name of securing an invaders ‘right’ to peace and security in ‘their’ own land.

[i] The Director of Public
Prosecutions, Australian Capital Territory, is well aware of the name of the
individual prosecutor who uttered these overtly racist words. Mr Phillip Hart
provided that information to the Australian Federal Police and the ACT DPP in
2006 after he posted the comment on his site. To this date no action has been
taken by either the AFP or ACT DPP regarding these comments. Subsequent to
making these comments, the named Prosecutor has been involved in a number of
other trials involving Aboriginal Australians.
[ii] Wacquant L (2000) “The
new Peculiar Institution: On the prison as Surrogate
Ghetto.” Theoretical Criminology. 4.3.
[iii] Biles, Harding and
Walker, 1999
[iv] Morgan N (2002) ‘Going
Overboard? Debates and Developments in Mandatory
Sentencing, June 2000 to June 2002’, Criminal Law
Journal, vol 26, no 5, 293-312.

The role of Bakchos in the 21st Century

As you all know, we Olympians have had a bad trot, recently – well actually since the Edict of Milan we’ve had a terrible time, our temples have been converted to churches, and then stables, Mosques and, well who knows what…..

So life’s been tough but a god’s gotta do somethin’ after considerable consultation with Zeus, Hera and Semele (ah yes, Semele), I’ve decided to devote the next few hundred years or so to exposing the graft, corruption and racism within the ACT Public Service and the Australian Federal Police – believe the gods, there is a lot there.

Enough bullshit for now, time to get the Bakchai together and track down some corruption in the Stanhope Government.

Stay tuned for updates!!

House Warming – The Gods Reply

In praise of Bakchos Anne that sweet musician sung,
Of Bakchos ever fair and ever young:
The jolly god in triumph comes;
Sound the trumpets; beat the drums;
Flush'd with a purple grace
He shows his honest face:
Now give the lady breath; he comes, he comes.
Bakchos, ever fair and young
Drinking joys did first ordain;
Bakchos' blessings are a treasure’
Drinking is the householder’s pleasure;
Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure,
Sweet is pleasure after pain.

He has come out of a black hole into glaring light and he will be overwhelmed by it.

"And all the charms of face or voice Which I in others see, Are but the recollected choice Of what I feel for thee."

Als ich ein jung' Geselle war (When I was a young bachelor)

The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung,
Of Bacchus ever fair and ever young:
The jolly god in triumph comes;
Sound the trumpets; beat the drums....

Prays in Praise of Bakchos

Homeric Hymns Prays in Praise of Bakchos

TO DIONYSUS (fragment)

For some say, at Dracanum; and some, on windy Icarus;
and some, in Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn; and others by the
deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare you to Zeus
the thunder-lover. And others yet, lord, say you were born in
Thebes; but all these lie. The Father of men and gods gave you
birth remote from men and secretly from white-armed Hera. There
is a certain Nysa, a mountain most high and richly grown with
woods, far off in Phoenice, near the streams of Aegyptus.
...and men will lay up for her many offerings in
her shrines. And as these things are three, so shall mortals
ever sacrifice perfect hecatombs to you at your feasts each three years.'
The Son of Cronos spoke and nodded with his dark
brows. And the divine locks of the king flowed forward from his
immortal head, and he made great Olympus reel. So spake wise
Zeus and ordained it with a nod.
Be favourable, O Insewn, Inspirer of frenzied women!
we singers sing of you as we begin and as we end a strain, and
none forgetting you may call holy song to mind. And so,
farewell, Dionysus, Insewn, with your mother Semele whom men call
Thyone.

VII. TO DIONYSUS

I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele,
how he appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the
fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the first flush of
manhood: his rich, dark hair was waving about him, and on his
strong shoulders he wore a purple robe. Presently there came
swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian pirates on a well-
decked ship -- a miserable doom led them on. When they saw him
they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and
seizing him straightway, put him on board their ship exultingly;
for they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. They
sought to bind him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold
him, and the withes fell far away from his hands and feet: and he
sat with a smile in his dark eyes. Then the helmsman understood
all and cried out at once to his fellows and said:
`Madmen! What god is this whom you have taken and
bind, strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry
him. Surely this is either Zeus or Apollo who has the silver
bow, or Poseidon, for he looks not like mortal men but like the
gods who dwell on Olympus. Come, then, let us set him free upon
the dark shore at once: do not lay hands on him, lest he grow
angry and stir up dangerous winds and heavy squalls.'
So said he: but the master chid him with taunting
words: `Madman, mark the wind and help hoist sail on the ship:
catch all the sheets. As for this fellow we men will see to him:
I reckon he is bound for Egypt or for Cyprus or to the
Hyperboreans or further still. But in the end he will speak out
and tell us his friends and all his wealth and his brothers, now
that providence has thrown him in our way.'
When he had said this, he had mast and sail hoisted
on the ship, and the wind filled the sail and the crew hauled
taut the sheets on either side. But soon strange things were
seen among them. First of all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming
throughout all the black ship and a heavenly smell arose, so that
all the seamen were seized with amazement when they saw it. And
all at once a vine spread out both ways along the top of the sail
with many clusters hanging down from it, and a dark ivy-plant
twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and with rich
berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered with
garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade
the helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a
dreadful lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared loudly:
amidships also he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear
which stood up ravening, while on the forepeak was the lion
glaring fiercely with scowling brows. And so the sailors fled
into the stern and crowded bemused about the right-minded
helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang upon the master and
seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt out overboard
one and all into the bright sea, escaping from a miserable fate,
and were changed into dolphins. But on the helmsman Dionysus had
mercy and held him back and made him altogether happy, saying to
him:
`Take courage, good...; you have found favour with my
heart. I am loud-crying Dionysus whom Cadmus' daughter Semele
bare of union with Zeus.'
Hail, child of fair-faced Semele! He who forgets you
can in no wise order sweet song.

XXVI. TO DIONYSUS

I begin to sing of ivy-crowned Dionysus, the loud-
crying god, splendid son of Zeus and glorious Semele. The rich-
haired Nymphs received him in their bosoms from the lord his
father and fostered and nurtured him carefully in the dells of
Nysa, where by the will of his father he grew up in a sweet-
smelling cave, being reckoned among the immortals. But when the
goddesses had brought him up, a god oft hymned, then began he to
wander continually through the woody coombes, thickly wreathed
with ivy and laurel. And the Nymphs followed in his train with
him for their leader; and the boundless forest was filled with their outcry.
And so hail to you, Dionysus, god of abundant
clusters! Grant that we may come again rejoicing to this season,
and from that season onwards for many a year.

Orphic Hymns

30. TO DIONYSOS (incense--storax)

I call upon loud-roaring and reveling Dionysos,
primeval, two-natured, thrice-born, Bacchic lord,
savage, ineffable, secretive, two-horned and two-shaped.
Ivy-covered, bull-faced, warlike, howling, pure,
you take raw flesh, you have triennial feasts, wrapt in foliage, decked
with grape clusters.
Resourceful Eubouleus, immortal god sired by Zeus
when he mated with Persephone in unspeakable union.
Hearken to my voice, O blessed one, and with your fair-girdled nurses
breathe on me in a spirit of perfect kindness.

45. HYMN TO DIONYSOS

Come, blessed Dionysos, bull-faced god conceived in fire,
Bassareus and Bacchos, many-named master of all.
You delight in bloody swords and in the holy Maenads,
as you howl throughout Olympus, O roaring and frenzied Bacchos.
Armed with thyrsus and wrathful in the extreme, you are honored
by all the gods and by all the men who dwell upon the earth.
Come, blessed and leaping god, and bring much joy to all.
46. TO LIKNITES (incense - powdered frankincense)

I summon to these prayers Dionysos Liknites,
born at Nysa, blossoming, beloved and kindly Bacchos,
nursling of the nymphs and of fair-wreathed Aphrodite.
The forest once felt your feet quiver in the dance
as frenzy drove you and the graceful nymphs on and on,
and the counsels of Zeus brought you to noble Persephone
who reared you to be loved by the deathless gods.
Kind-heartedly come, O blessed one, and accept the gift of this sacrifice.

47. TO PERIKIONIOS (incense - aromatic herbs)

I call upon Bacchos Perikionios, giver of wine,
who enveloped all of Kadmos' house
and with his might checked and calmed the heaving earth
when the blazing thunderbolt and the raging gale
stirred all the land. Then everyone's bonds sprang loose.
Blessed reveler, come with joyful heart.

50. TO LUSIOS-LENAIOS

Hear, O blessed son of Zeus and of two mothers, Bacchos of the vintage,
unforgettable seed, many-named and redeeming daimon,
holy offspring of the gods born in secrecy, reveling Bacchos
plump giver of the many joys of fruits which grow well.
Mighty and many-shaped god, from the earth you burst forth to reach the wine-press
and there become a remedy for man's pain, O sacred blossom!
A sorrow-hating joy to mortals, O lovely-haired Epaphian,
you are a redeemer adn a reveler whose thyrsus drives to frenzy
and who is kind-hearted to all, gods and mortals, who see his light.
I call upon you now to come, a sweet bringer of fruit.

52. TO THE GOD OF TRIENNIAL FEASTS (incense - aromatic herbs)

I call upon you, blessed, many-named and frenzied Bacchos,
bull-horned Nysian redeemer, god of the wine-press, conceived in fire.
Nourished in the thigh, O Lord of the Cradle, you marshal torch-lit processions
in the night, O filleted and thyrsus-shaking Eubouleus.
Threefold is your nature and ineffable your rites, O secret offspring of Zeus;
primeval, Erikepaios, father and son of gods,
you take raw flesh and, sceptered, you lead into the madness of revel and dance
in the frenzy of triennial feasts that bestow calm on us.
You burst forth from the earth in a blaze...O son of two mothers,
and, horned and clad in fawnskin, you roam the mountains, O lord worshipped in annual feasts.
Paian of the golden spear, nursling, decked with grapes,
Bassaros, exulting in ivy, followed by many maidens...
Joyous and all-abounding, come, O blessed one, to the initiates.

53. TO THE GOD OF ANNUAL FEASTS (incense- all but frankincense - and milk)

I call upon the Bacchos we worship annually, chthonic Dionysos
who, together with the fair-tressed nymphs, is roused.
In the sacred halls of Persephone he slumbers
and puts to sleep pure, Bacchic time every third year.
When he himself stirs up the trienniel revel again
he sings a hymn, accompanied by his fair-girdled nurses,
and, as the seasons revolve, he puts to sleep and wakes up the years.
But, O blessed and fruit-giving Bacchos, O horned spirit of the unripe fruit,
come to this most sacred rite with the glow of joy on your face,
come all-abounding in fruit that is holy and perfect.

Choral Ode from Antigone (Sophocles)

God of the many names, Semele's golden child,
child of Olympian thunder, Italy's lord.
Lord of Eleusis, where all men come
to mother Demeter's plain.
Bacchus, who dwell in Thebes,
by Ismenus' running water,
where wild Bacchic women are at home,
on the soil of the dragon seed.
Seen in the glaring flame, high on the double mount,
with the nymphs of Parnassus at play on the hill,
seen by Kastalia's flowing stream.
You come from the ivied heights,
from green Euboea's shore.
In immortal words we cry
your name, lord, who watch the ways,
the many ways of Thebes.
This is your city, honored beyond the rest,
the town of your mother's miracle-death.
Now, as we wrestle our grim disease,
come with healing step from Parnassus' slope
or over the moaning sea.
Leader in the dance of the fire-pulsing stars
overseer of the voices of night,
child of Zeus, be manifest,
with due companionship of Maenad maids
whose cry is but your name.

Philodamos' Paian to Dionysos

I. Come here, Lord Dithyrambos, Bakchos, god of jubilation, Bull, with a crown of ivy in your hair, Roarer, oh come in this holy season of spring - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! Once upon a time, in ecstatic Thebes, Thyona bore you to Zeus and became mother of a beautiful son. All immortals started dancing, all mosrtals rejoicing at your birth, o bacchic god. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
II. On that day Kadmos' famous country jumped up in bacchic revelry, the vale of the Minyans, too, and fertile Euboia - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! Brimful with hymns, the holy and blessed country of Delphi was dancing. And you yourself, you revealed you starry shape, taking position on the crags of Parnassos, accompanied by Delphic maidens. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
III. Swinging your firebrand in your hand - light in the darkness of night - you arrived in your enthusiastic frenzy in the flower-covered vale of Eleusis - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! There the entire Greek nation, surrounding the indigenous witnesses of the holy Mysteries, invokes you as Iakchos: you have opened for mankind a haven, relief from suffering. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
IV.......
V. From that blessed country you came to the cities of Thessaly, to the sacred domain of Olympos and famous Pieria - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! and forthwith did the Muses crown themselves with ivy; they all sang and danced around you, proclaiming you to be 'Forever immortal and famous Paian'! Apollo had taken the lead in this dance. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
VI....VII....VIII.....
IX. The god commands the Amphiktyons to execute the action with speed, so that he who shoots from afar may restrain his anger - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! - and to present this hymn for his brother to the family of the gods, on the occasion of the annual feast of hospitality, and to make a public sacrifice on the occasion of the panhellenic supplications of blessed Hellas. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
X. O blessed and fortunate the generation of those mortals who build for Lord Apollo, a never-decaying, never-to-be-defiled temple - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! - a golden temple with golden sculptures where the goddesses encircle Paian, his hair shining in ivory, adorned with an indigenous wreath. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
XI. To the organizers of his quadrennial Pythian Festival the god has given the command to establish in honour of Bakchos a sacrifice and a competition of many dithyrambs - euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian! - and to erect an attractive statue of Bakchos like the bright beams of the rising sun, standing on a chariot drawn by golden lions and to furnish a grotto suitable to the holy god. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.
XII. Come on then, and welcome Dionysos, god of the bakchants, and call upon him in your streets with dances performed by people with ivy in their hair who sing 'Euhoi, o io Bakchos, o ie Paian!' All over blessed Hellas...dithyrambs. Hail thou, Lord of Health. - Ie Paian, come o Saviour, and kindly keep this city in happy prosperity.

Anakreon's request to Dionysos

Lord, with whom conqueror Eros
and the blue-eyed Nymphs
and radiant Aphrodite
like to cavort, you who haunt
precipitous mountain tops,
I beseech you, graciously
join me, take pleasure
in my prayer and fulfil it:
give Kleoboulos a piece
of good advice: to return
my love, o Dionysos.

Pindar's Dithyramb to Dionysos

Come here to our dance, Olympian gods,
and bestow upon it your famous beauty,
you who are accustomed to visit in holy Athens the navel of the city,
where people throng and incense in burnt,
and also the renowned market-place,
which shows on all sides the products of its artists.
Take your share of wreaths, bound with violets, and of spring-plucked songs.
Be my audience, now that I, having taken my start from Zeus,
have travelled here a second time with splendour of songs
towards the god who is expert in ivy,
whom we mortals call Roarer and Loud-shouting
whenever we celebrate him, offspring of the Supreme Father
and of the Kadmeian Lady.
Like a seer, I perceive the distinct signs which tell
when the chamber of the purple-robed Horai opens
and honey-sweet plants introduce fragrant spring.
This, this is when people scatter lovely petals of violets on immortal earth
and mingle roses with their locks;
when voices of songs resound, accompanied by pipes,
and choruses approach crown-wearing Semele...

Confessions of a Bacchos from The Cretans (Euripides)

Lord of Europa's Tyrian line,
Zeus-born, who holdest at thy feet
The hundred citadels of Crete,
I seek to thee from that dim shrine,
Roofed by the Quick and Carven Beam,
By Chalyb steel and wild bull's blood
In flawless joints of cypress wood
Made steadfast. There in one pure stream
My days have run, the servant I,
Initiate, of Idaean Jove;
Where midnight Zagreus roves, I rove;
I have endured his thunder-cry;
Fulfilled his red and bleeding feasts;
Held the Great Mother's mountain flame;
I am Set Free and named by name
A Bacchos of the Mailed Priests.

Choral Ode to Iakchos from The Frogs (Aristophanes)

Iakchos, much-loved resident of these quarters,
- Iakchos, O Iakchos! -
come to this field for the dance
with your holy followers,
setting in motion the crown
which sits on your head, thick
with myrtle-berries, boldly stamping the beat
with your foot in the unrestrained
fun-loving celebration -
the dance overflowing with grace,
dance sacred to the holy initiates!
Wake the fiery torches which you brandish in your hands,
- Iakchos, O Iakchos! -
brilliant star of the all-night celebration!
The meadow is aflame with light;
old men's knees cavort!
They shake off the pain
of long years in old age
in their holy excitement.
Hold your light aloft
and lead the youthful chorus, Lord,
to the lush flowers of the sacred ground!

Fragments

The nightingale haunts the glades, the wine-dark ivy, dense and dark the untrodden, sacred wood of god rich with laurel and olives never touched by the sun, untouched by storms that blast from every quarter - where the reveler Dionysos strides the earth forever, where the wild nymphs are dancing round him, nymphs who nursed his life. (Oedipus at Colonnus)
I am raised up and I will not reject the flute,
O ruler of my mind. Look, he stirs me up,
Euhoi, the ivy now whirls me round in Bacchic contest. (Trachinian Women)
And I know how to lead off the sprightly
dance of the lord Dionysos, the dithyramb.
I do it thunderstruck with wine. (Archilochus)
Come, Lord Dionysos,
to the sacred temple of Elis' people
accompanied by the Graces,
to the temple
storming on your bovine foot,
worthy bull,
worthy bull. (Anonymous)

Translation from:

http://www.wildivine.org/dionysos_hymns.htm

A LESSON OF MERCY

A boy named Peter
Found once in the road
All harmless and helpless,
A poor little toad;

And ran to his playmate,
And all out of breath
Cried, "John, come and help,
And we'll stone him to death!"

And picking up stones,
The two went on the run,
Saying, one to the other,
"Oh, won't we have fun?"

Thus primed and all ready,
They'd got nearly back,
When a donkey came
Dragging a cart on the track.

Now the cart was as much
As the donkey could draw,
And he came with his head
Hanging down; so he saw,

All harmless and helpless,
The poor little toad,
A-taking his morning nap
Right in the road.

He shivered at first,
Then he drew back his leg,
And set up his ears,
Never moving a peg.

Then he gave the poor toad,
With his warm nose a dump,
And he woke and got off
With a hop and jump.

And then with an eye
Turned on Peter and John,
And hanging his homely head
Down, he went on.

"We can't kill him now, John,"
Says Peter, "that's flat,
In the face of an eye and
An action like that!"

"For my part, I haven't
The heart to," says John;
"But the load is too heavy
That donkey has on:

"Let's help him"; so both lads
Set off with a will
And came up with the cart
At the foot of the hill.

And when each a shoulder
Had put to the wheel,
They helped the poor donkey
A wonderful deal.

When they got to the top
Back again they both run,
Agreeing they never
Had had better fun.