Indian Rock - and How It Was Taken

INDIAN ROCK - AND HOW IT WAS TAKEN They came to the hills with intent, Offering worship and praise as they went. The rock with two hands On my grandparent’s lands Held a mystical song, most reverent. One year the museum man came From a place with a big, fancy name; He ordered the stone To find a new home, So east went the rock with acclaim. My Grandma, both worried and stirred; To the people, she couldn’t send word. In the spring they appeared Holding gifts as they neared, ‘Imminent Domain’ a term they’d never heard. That summer, when she heard their soft knock, She told them how she tried to block, But the men most insistent, And oh, most persistent Served papers to take charge of the rock. Now the rock sits away from the sun; Children gaze at the hands, but no one Kneels before it in praise Feeling summer’s full rays, Giving thanks for all that God’s done. [This is a true story. In the early 1970’s, a rock of pink granite, with two carved hands facing the rising sun, was removed from my grandparent’s pasture by people from the Museum of Natural History. It was to be part of an exhibit on Indian Culture. And yes, they had papers. Grandma cried the following summer when the people appeared on the day before summer solstice. She cried when she told them of the rock’s removal. They did not cry. They held out gifts, insisting Grandma accept. Then they left. They did not return again.]