Finding My Spirit

I started my school years in a strict Catholic school run by nuns and I was terrified of them with their black hoods and caps like death dressed in shrouds and their stern faces and sharp words . . . I spent most of my time looking at the floor then, we moved and I went to a different school still Catholic but not run by nuns oh joy and bliss, or so I thought but not so fast I was a half-breed and the kids let me know what a low position that was in their opinion with taunts and racial slurs with words like weapons that left wounds and scars again I kept my head down . . . in the school yard I sat alone in a corner writing in a journal or reading a book I ate lunch alone and had no friends until a Cree boy started at the school we would sit with our heads together laughing talking about all things- he had no friends either except me . . . he taught me about the great Grandfather spirits told me I was beautiful outside and inside and had an inner strength yet to be discovered we became life long friends . . . like a growing vine that never ends one summer I went to my grandparents cottage and something happened to me that summer my hair got longer like a flowing river I had the beginnings of curves and my face lost the little girl look . . . my beauty came unbidden I explored the woods around the cottage riding a sleek black stallion . . and I would get lost in a sea of trees and the quiet serenity I embraced the sun and the moon drank from the infinite deep blue sky and water like smooth glass . . . I found my spirit that summer that had always dwelt within me in the fall on the first day of school some nasty girls said behind my back oh let the Indian Princess go first- in a rude way but instead of putting my head down I swung my long raven hair around in a wave gave them my sweetest smile and said THANK YOU- I had found my strength and that changed everything . . . yet my youth will ever be weather-stained but instead of a heavy chain holding me hostage it became the seed of verses and rhymes and will be the depth of my heart forevermore __________________________ December 9, 2018 Poetry/Free Verse/Finding My Spirit Copyright Protected, ID 18-1093-175-01 All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym. Submitted to Strand Select H Contest sponsor, Brian Strand Honorable Mention