Grandfather Speaks With Eagles
Irony cries out in Boulet’s rendering.
Elderly Native American’s stern expression
seems captured beneath eagle’s wings.
Symbol of power and freedom,
mighty bald eagle was chosen by European ancestors -
United State’s national symbol.
Yet independence for all was denied.
Tribes seeking only to preserve
their culture, their way of life,
were undeservingly imprisoned on reservations.
Stifled was freedom’s speech.
Let the eagle’s voice be heard;
toleration of injustice carries harsh consequences.
Spread your wings, powerful bird,
restore harmony to land seduced,
neglected, compromised.
Transmit tribal elders’ timely message.
Human annihilation’s path is cruelly carved
when animals and plants face extinction.
Mounds of trash blister our land;
parched prairies struggle to support life.
Sorrowful cries of dying species
echo through stripped land,
causing songs of despair to resonate.
Grandfather, speak with eagles;
others appear deaf to your wisdom.
*Written October 15, 2014 and dedicated to late artist Susan Seddon Boulet, whose 2003 painting “Grandfather Speaks with Eagles” is but one of many pieces that evoke emotional response.
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