Back to the Land

Back to the Land where I first began

Mama nursing me, Daddy holding my hand

Showing me the promise

Teaching the land

Giving me instructions they learned from the place that they began

Back to the Land

where my people dwell

To the ones I have buried and said my farewells

Back to the place where their silhouettes stand-

strong in my memory of them working the land

Back to the land of unmarked graves

Both Indian and Slaves

Where I think upon the tragedy and the darkness of those days

Back to the Land where they made their home taken by greed and evil alone.

Back to the Land where I know it’s form

Much like my own- through the gentle and storm

It’s bends and curves;

It’s weak places and strong

The sound of the bluebirds singing along

The evening and night

The valley and hills

And The lines that I know are drawn in my grandfather’s will.

Back to the Land where some dreams died;

Tractor tombstones

Pollution in the sky

The fields crying out- to fast; no more, breathing dust and fatigue from a farming store

Back to the Land where food should grow slow

Self- sustaining-

Not money draining

Not hurried or oversold

Back to the Land where vegetables wear dirt and taste deeper and richer and more connected to the earth

Back to the Land that has stood the test of times

Times of my grandfather

and his father

and his lineage down the line.

Back to the land where the future is unclear

But I can see a glimpse of my children running in their ancestor’s field

Back to the Land to one day Reclaim, ReStore, Redeem some of that shame

Back to the Land that once birthed me to start a new beginning and change its history.