Tearful Years

I can still hear the screeching pain of the braves as they were killed one by one in battle. I listened to the maidens who lost their husband in war. Lonely became the villages as all the young braves went off to fight for their right to live free and on their own land. Many people had come into their world and most of them were content on pushing them off the fertile land. Each day they could feel the pressure of the settlers that had come from far distant places as more and more their land was taken from them. No one cared that they had been on the land long before and even less cared that they were made to leave what they called their home.

****As each season passed them by, their food got more scarce and their land dwindled in size to what it had been. None of them could understand what happened, but they knew one thing. It would not be long before they were pushed out of their homelands all together and forced to live as herded brothers on a small tract of land given to them by some ungrateful nation. A shiver came over me as I sat there on the river bank remembering what it must have been like. No matter how I tried and no matter how much my heart pained I could never begin to come close to the tortured pain that they must have felt and lived thru. Why was there no justice for these people when they needed it most?I could not find an answer to that question and many others that had consumed me as I kept my heritage alive in my heart and in my every day living.

****Many of the desecendents dismissed their heritage as a curse or a load that they were not willing to carry through life. It pained me to watch their ancestors pass on and no one mourn their loss. I on the other hand begged and pleaded for my ancestors to feed my thirst for the heritage that was part of me. Nights and days would pass as they made sure that I not only learned but understood what kept them strong. For this I thanked them over and over. Now as I look to the heavens, sitting here near the babbling brook I can see the brave warrior tat was my ancestor. I know that deep in the heavens they were banded together now and watching over me, bringing me strength, courage and the will to be the best I could be everyday.

****No words were spoken between us as I watched in silence. My heart and dreams remembering each and every one of them that I had the priviledge to know. A tear formed in my eye and quickly slipped down over the bronzed skin of my cheek. I raised my hand and in one quick swipe I removed it. There was no reason to be crying over my thoughts. I knew instead that I should be elated that my ancestors had helped me to remember and to respect those that had come before me. One more glance to the heavens and I nodded to the great spirit and softly whispered, " I will never forget, that you can be assured of." With those words spoken I stood and walked back to the house, went inside and closed the door on another day.