Trail of Tears

Of those travelling

Some were old  / bewildered  /torn from roots

Some / the very muscle of strength /were sore with energy

Some were weak and asked for more / but there was little

 

And of those who continued / seeking / for a week a month a year /

long did they keen / aloud / and in silence

Of keening  they made a miracle /

in keening  they remembered / and memory  turned  to seed

 

the time to plant perhaps a long way off /they carried what life promised /

the stubborn push of it / and stories to feed their souls

Some would not leave/  they remembered /what is their story, alone / they asked

Some turned back / they remembered / did they find the way?

Some have died / where are their spirits / they worried?

 

those who could  not relent bore  this inheritance / this seed / hard as stone /

Justice /off with your blindfold / they might have demanded /

Justice look  / blindness can be deceived / they might have said

witness truth / they may have argued

 

how I shift from foot to foot in my uncomfortable doorway / how I wish for sleep /

but the ones treated unjustly /  are not quiet  /

they are raw sores /  that earn their keep  /by hurting/

weeping sores /the wounds of broken trust  still wet