Who am I to speak
Of red feet pounding the clay of ages
Through a land whose conquerors refuse me?
Yet I am asked to sing, and so sing I will,
Though my song is false, halting and local.
Take heed all ye who would succeed!
Pine and water, lupine and oak--
These do not seek to be your Enemy
Yet nor will they sleep forever
Ignoring you.
Instead, all your life is forfeit
And all lives before you and to come
Churned to dust and chaff
To color the sunrise winds of implacable sacred fire
What you destroy means nothing
Humans cannot unmake
That you try without thought
Condemns you by nature to be unmade
Yet we may grieve, my people!
For whose throat bared to the blade
Of ignorance and fear do we hone steel against
But our very own?
Red feet pound the clay of ages
As no more now than haunts
In our bloody dreams
In which we drown for self despite
We belong in the wood and water
Even as our brethren we slay,
Jealous of our jealous God
And of each other.
Take heed! You cannot refuse love
For it will find you in whatever guise
You wrap around it
And it will kill you or keep you
It is our choice.
~Thea, November 6, 2010
Tags: poetry social activism native american indian
