Aravaipa voices

i wail to the walls
when no one can hear
winds whistle at arivaipa
sending eery echoes through slot canyons
scour memories from the walls
abraded voices of apache ghosts
gunned down
i can hear them
crying

time does not erase injustice
at best we forget
pray to god we forget
mother earth tears
swell in the summer
washing away sadness
foolish tourists, footsteps and echoes
all that offends her

though i plead
the summer mother never takes me with her
she leaves me on a ledge
alone but alive
remembering
hearing
feeling the sadness
of all that has come to pass

hope bursts forth
in weedy shoots
high above the water line
where the muddy waters roar with little warning
only the mist of canyon tears will nourish you
hold firm my nature's hope
grasp the gneiss and
send down circuitous roots
against vertigo
hide from the scorching truth
of daylight
listen to the wails
which come at twilight
heed their warning
 

11 May 2001
©2001
nancy faye hill
 
 

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