QUIET YOU SAY

Poem by

Nokwisa





it came quietly
like the stir of a breeze
the floating of a lost down feather
the way the sun slips over the edge of the dawn

the change
the shift
like the quiet minute on a clock

but the change was not quiet
it resounded
Wounded Knee
Alcatraz
Pt. Conception

Resounded with names
Banks
Means
Peltier
Butler
Bellacourt
Trudell
so many
Strong Men
Strong Women
Strong Voices

And the change was heard

Quiet you say
twenty years later
Quiet
It's the change 
the shift

Listen for it

In the North
In the East 
In the South
In the West

Hear it in the voices
of the Children
of the Old Ones
Protecting the Ancestors
Protecting the Future

quietly
like the stir of a breeze
the floating of a lost down feather
the way the sun slips over the edge of the dawn

the change
the shift
like the quiet minute on a clock

The clock ticks away
and change is with us
Nokwisa Yona - Jody Peiffer Willett 06/17/97

Bring LEONARD Home!


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