Appalachian Elegy Read Online Free Page A

ground
    letting earth hold me
    in praise of air
    I lift my hands
    to the heavens
    call down grace for blessings
    for anointed being
    turning toward water
    I let go remembered sins
    cleanse and purify
    burning sage
    I bring fire to warm
    and illuminate
    all around this body
    light moves
    a communion of gathered
    spirits

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41.
    fierce unyielding winds
    pressing pushing
    against window glass
    trees swaying
    branches falling
    chaos warning
    of danger
    she does not want
    to cut them down
    she does not want
    to fear those mighty oaks
    standing guard
    for more years
    than can be counted
    strong roots sustaining life
    holding back
    the rush of time
    let earth testify
    they have the
    right to fall
    when life comes to an end
    to move
    in harmony with fate

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42.
    heavy heart
    as fallen snow
    bringing behind
    wet damp darkness
    small dreams
    coming true
    green coming
    from seeds
    planted long ago
    draw from this
    winter death
    courage to go on
    in the face of white cold
    see past this
    all-surrounding
    whiteness
    that beyond
    there is hope
    that sorrow ends

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43.
    when the dawn
    is still almost dark
    I rise restless
    watch the
    morning come
    sly slow
    movement into light
    from shadow play
    an unveiling
    inside this dark heart
    a yearning to live
    as nature lives
    surrendering all

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44.
    fly high
    dreaming bird
    higher and higher
    on the wire of time
    no road blocks
    no stopping
    to think through
    why wings flap
    what makes
    the worthy soar
    only this
    pure heaven
    right now
    sky high

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45.
    barren broken hill
    once a place of possibility
    now only remnants
    old glory gone
    heritage sullied with hate
    ancestors indigenous and dark
    held captive
    by soldiers and greed
    by bloody conquest
    battlefields where the dead live
    unclaimed not mourned
    histories buried forgotten
    lost to a world of cover-ups
    ghosts return to these hills
    to grieve
    cry out lamentations
    mourning the desecration
    of earthbound bodies
    ghosts gather here
    make promises
    of resurrection and return

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46.
    overlooking water
    I stand
    at the top of the hill
    looking out
    see swans on the lake
    grand plumage
    more elegant than peacocks
    their presence mysterious
    all secrecy
    how came they
    to choose Appalachia
    gracing us with their vision
    as we climb down
    to be close to such beauty
    that it may
    open our hearts
    show us such love
    as to offer
    no turning back

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47.
    red beard
    strut
    strut
    wild turkey
    congregate
    walk in peace
    deciduous woodland
    undercover
    walk to mate
    walk to feed
    strut
    strut
    iridescent plumage
    moving harem
    doing a slow dance
    strut
    strut

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48.
    sunken faces
    a collapsing gray
    shutting down
    still bodies
    standing in doorways
    sitting on
    falling-down front porches
    on crooked steps
    cold now
    bone upon bone
    outsiders come
    taking land
    taking life
    stripping removing destroying
    mountains ravished
    leaving in this corrupt wake
    souls grieving
    earth laments
    cries out loud
    that justice may come
    that it is never too late

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49.
    with water
    anoint the day
    all this season
    of drought kills
    quiet slaughter
    effortless
    no need to love war
    in this space
    ongoing silence
    absent wetness
    call for surrender
    for want and thirst
    we are brought low
    face to face
    with essential need
    a necessary yearning
    we long for rain
    for water
    to pour into our hearts
    an offering of radical grace

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50.
    all old souls
    chant
    be tender
    walk soft
    the bodies of our dead
    lie here
    wildflowers
    red yellow white
    adorn memory
    pink purple blue
    lost in a world of green
    all have been
    promised
    wedded to morning
    that will soon come
    tears fallen and gone
    only faint traces
    of grief remain
    sorrow lingers
    making soil soul deep
    our weeping ground

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51.
    in the gray blue wash of dawn
    sacred secrets no longer hidden
    make tapestries of repressed memories
    soldiers lamenting
    the tyranny of war unending
    let earth renew
    broken spirits
    find precious
    love once shared
    that will not be