Poem: "No One at the Shore"

By Cecelia LaPointe*

No One at the Shore

Could erase,
Time,
Barriers,
The lake knows,

Before the land was divided up,
The worth of it,
Less,

The ancestors,
Knew no different,

Why commerce,
Concentrated trade,
Instilled an incision,
In the heart,
The soul,
Of the land,

Value added,

Value taken,
What's more real,
Is unheard,

We draw a line,
In the sand,

Before murder,
Before genocide,
And all we can hear is silence,

Regal pines,
Listening,
There was no wounding,
Souls not tarnished,
We remember this time,
Before our souls were disjointed,
When no one was on the shore.

*Poet Cecelia LaPointe is a proud Anishinaabekwe of mixed heritage, and she strongly identifies with her Anishinaabe/Ojibway roots. She is an author, writer, poet and healer. Read more of her writing and see photos at Anishinaabekwe.com.