“Awkward instant
And the first animal is jettisoned
Legs furiously pumping
Their stiff green gallop ” -Horse Latitudes, The Doors
I need an island.
Somewhere out there on the oceans of time, back there in the past
Where children play,
And the goddess’s love gently sways.
We were a tribe then,
Our laughter was our sweet power.
I need another island
over there past the waves of choice and consequence,
past my minds eye
Where my loves wait,
Reverbating glimpses of gentle eyes,
out there in the future.
And strung between the two, safe,
I can weave my web.
Watching ripples.
And today the ancestors voices resonate along the lines.
Calling the healers.
Can you feel the guilt in your blood?
The Colonial’s weight? The conqueror’s pride?
Can I reach beneath the gunwales of this sorrows charter ship
To change the past?
Aye, I’ll go down to row.
With my hands on proven wood,
A strong back, a shared pride, toward a brighter day.
Can I carry this defeated heart that courses still?
And rise, oh rise, with my grandfather’s dreams,
A truer pride, where each upon each of us own not this land,
But each other, a care, linked by hearts
Until our chains fail.
And this lonely ocean rises,
Reaching us up to the webs of storm ripped skies,
Our time, all times, whole time.
I need an island.