It's been a long time since I posted in this blog...however, I'll be returning to the place that inspired this prose-poem next week, the land of the Cherokee, the rivers of the Tuckaseegee and Natahala. It made me think of this prose poem I wrote a couple of years ago and so I thought I'd bring it up to the top.It was there in the misty mountains where my life began and ended. You left me at dawn, promising return by nightfall. I waited for years in the meadow of songs where we had built our love on pledges of golden sun and milky starlight.
You never returned.
Only the music of the storm was my solace. Shattered by the force of time and weather, I became blind. On my knees and with fingers numb from cold, I tried to find the path before me and stumbled into the dark echoes of the woods to seek shelter. Finding comfort on a bed of hemlock, I slept next to the gray wolf who consoled me as I wailed, holding me in his paws and licking my brow.
You never returned.
Only the laughing crows and battle cries of raptors could be heard in the forest. Songbirds fled to sing their cheerful melodies in less mournful places. My tears became the creek that flowed from the great mountains into the Tuckaseegee. Beyond an eternity of hope, shards of my crystalline heart can still be found.
You never returned.
__
Dedicated to those left behind on the Trail of Tears.
37 comments:
Cat, this is beautiful.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!
i can't explain what i'm feeling, having read this. a longing, a deep sadness, yet a beauty clear and loud... well done!
Incredibly beautiful and moving Cat. I know very little about the resettlement of Native Americans but you inspired me to read more.
Cat, Here is my offering to the Trail of Tears.
They Sent You Away
I took my other
life, my wolfen shape and voice
and I howled all night
along the broken
trail, bloodied red paws, limping
past our yesterdays,
past the last gray moon
of this horrified season.
I have lost your scent.
Noelle, thank you! It's good to see you again!
Steve, well, I have to say you sort of help prodded me along into this one. Thanks you, and a big hug.
Shadow, Oh I'm so glad it made you feel that way, well not glad really, but glad to know that the writing was effective. Thank you.
JaneyV, Oh thank you so much Janey. I live right near Cherokee, NC, which is where those who were not rounded up and sent to Oklahoma still reside to this day. It's a sad sad story.
Oh Christopher, what a gorgeous tribute. I love the wolf image, and bloodied red paws is amazing. Thank you.
One of the most shameful episodes in our history beautifully, painfully imagined by Catherine. I'm near to tears.
Cat
Beautiful and heartbreaking in its truth.
The depth is so the way it might have been
Lovely to see you beautiful blog after my summer.....Looking forward to fall!
Linda
Karen, thank you so much. It is hard to live in these hills and not feel it.
Linda, Good to see you too! I'm looking forward to the beautiful fall.
Another portion of our history we've, as a collective, yet to come to grips with. Oh the ongoing Manifest Destiny doctrine has no home left to come back to roost in.
This is incredibly beautiful.
A lingering sadness, a deep tinge of sorrow.
~Silver
Oh this is so beautiful Cat and so sad too...Wonderful writing!
I just posted a new movie title prompt at:
http://mypoeticpath.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/monthly-movie-musings-take-3/
hope you can participate!
Hugs, G
You have so much wonderful phrasing in this work, but I love the phrasing "laughing crows." That and "Shards of my crystalline heart..."
Makes it even more meangingful to me that some of my family members survived the Trail of Tears, while some never returned.
Beautiful, and deeply sorrowful... this is glorious!
I am posting this on my sidebar for others to come read. What a beautiful, descriptive and simply take-your-breath-away story. You've won a fan. Quite lyrical to the ear...simply gorgeous.
Walking man- So true...
Silver- Thank you :-)
Rick- I didn't know that about you, that is very meaningful lineage. There is so much to learn about the whole history, and the people who are still living it today. I'm so glad the words touched you.
Rachel, Thank you :-)
Rebecca, I am truly honored. I thank you so much and am humbled by your words and grateful for your post. :-)
Melancholy and bittersweet. I liked this very much, Cat, and could feel your heartache in it. Blessings!
A true journey into the collective heart of darkness. Powerful writing here.
This is stunning Cat! Sad, beautiful and profound.
Absolutely one of your very best, Sis!
~Calli
A potent metaphor of longing. Beautiful photo too. :)
Cat, this is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. I love the power in its repetition, and the echoes of her pain reverberating in the natural world around her. You've honed in on one person's loss and made it seem huge and universal. Which is how it feels, of course. And which is especially appropriate here.
Just a gorgeous and sad mixture of prose and poetry. So well done.
Marion, I thank you for saying that. It seems you have a sixth sense. :-) I am very glad for that.
JR, It's funny, the more I read it, the more I see it that way, in the broader more universal sense. It didn't start out that way, but kind of grew into that.
Calli my sis, :-) Your words warm me.
Jason, Longing and loss. Thanks for mentioning the photo. We were there last week in Bryson City with is at the confluence of the Tuckaseegee and Natalaha Rivers. That picture is from just outside of the town up on the mountain.
Sarah, Oh my dear, you have totally grasped what I was trying to do and your words bring a smile to my face. In one sense it started out being about one person, but as I connected with place and history, it grew into this other thing. I must say that I am truly influenced and inspired so much by your velvet phrasing and writing. I thank you. :-)
Such a beautiful piece but so sad!
Actually broke my heart to read it!
First time to your blog....love it!
So beautiful! That sadness still remains, doesn't it? It will always be an echo. I was thinking this was an event in history when I first started reading it. But I also love how it could be any time or place. Too often, the history of the world is soaked in tears.
This is fantastic:
"Only the music of the storm was my solace. Shattered by the force of time and weather, I became blind..."
But I shouldn't cherry pick here, because it's all excellent. You moved me today, Cat! Thank you:)
Thanks for enlightening me towards this event I was totally unaware of. I read about it to try to understand the pain you have portrayed here.
This is so very moving. I bow to their urge to 'Be free' and to strength to reach out for it.
melancholic yet beautiful
Cat - this is so sad and painful but so beautifully written.
I read it over a few times. Your words touched in to the core.
Simply haunting.
You are an amazing writer.
I'm looking forward to your interpretation of this month's movie prompt.
Mine's up at:
http://mypoeticpath.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/it-could-happen-to-you/
Hugs Cat, G
Margie, welcome! And thank you, I hope you'll be back for more.
Julie, Yes, it kind of started being about one thing, but is really about many things. I thank you. :-)
Aniket, the history of displacement of Native Americans in this country is shameful. There are examples such as this all over the country, but not more potent than the Trail of Tears. The Oklamhoma Cherokee resettled tribe is still very alive and well, as are their North Carolina Cherokee relatives. But the reservations of all the tribes and folks on them continue to be marginalized to this day. It is very sad. We have much to learn from them.
Margaret, Thank you. :-)
d'Gypsy, welcome! And thank you so much.
Bonnie, I'm so glad you came by! I'm so immersed in the book you recommended. :-) Thank you so much for your words.
Geraldine, outstanding! What an experience!
This is really heartbreaking. Had to read about the events in history to fully realize what it is about, but now after knowing it seems even more powerful to me. Sad and moving. A beautiful mixture of prose and poetry to depict the deepest emotions.
Cat, this is beautiful and so well done. It is as though you exoerienced it, and through your breathtaking prose, we do, just a bit, too.
This earth has absorbed so much human suffering that it is a wonder it doesn't shrivel up and turn finally inward.
I'm actually going to have my children read this, although perhaps only my oldest will really get it. There is *still* so much that they conveniently skip over in school, even in so called top districts, even in liberal states. My daughter did a book report last year (2nd grade) on a book called "The Double Life of Pocahontas" which differs, not surprisingly, from the Disney movie, and her teacher was slightly stunned.
How is your summer going??
Cat, what an impressive, albeit sad, narrative poem - truly epic in its nature and scope. One can hardly believe the stupidity of making thousands of Cherokees leave their homelands in the east to relocate in the west - which was so unfamiliar to them. Sadder yet, the thousands who died on the way. Thought provoking as always.
Songbirds fled to sing their cheerful melodies in less mournful places. Beautiful line...
A beauty of a heartbreaker Cat.
this is an incredible tribute to a woefully under-taught event - it feels like echoes - soft and sad and rolling on. "the meadow of songs" is a stand-out in a stand-out.
i think about the trail every time i see ol' hickory on a 20 dollar bill. wish he could have read this.
Nice.
...perhaps we don't really need to return as the essence of what others mean to us will always remain embedded in memory...
Very nice.
Lena, thanks so much. I was just checking out your magazine, what a great idea! I'll be back to read more.
Jennifer, It is SO GREAT to hear from you! I thought you'd fallen off the map, so I'm glad to see your return here. I know what you mean about what they teach, and I doubt if they talk much about what it must have been like on a personal level. History is taught so dryly and impersonally. I'd be curious to know how your daughter reacted. Please don't stay away so long!
K, it's great to see you again! Are you back?
Cynthia, thank you.
Joaquin, Thanks for pointing out that phrase as a standout. It's funny, sometimes when I'm writing certain things like that will come and seem to carry a wallop of emotions with it, that phrase was one of them. Great to see you as always!
Minister, Thanks!
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