Evergreen – Part 1 by Sara Wright

I forgot the
‘Original Instructions’
until She nudged me
Black Bear
Chloe
Green Shoot
alive or dead
She lives on
like the Evergreens
she evolved
with, climbed
to safety
from those
who would harm.

I picked some
boughs for him
as a gift
illness intervened
Absence drills
 holes in my heart
but I reclaimed your
fragrant branches
reminding myself
that he doesn’t know
your story
 The People*
hold you Sacred
Evergreens
and I do too.
because you
taught me
it was true.

Oh, Trees of Life

I remember the Tewa
Dancing prayers
  fringed
 needled branches
held tightly
chasing dark spirits
back to Mountains
  Shadows all
Even in the Desert
Cedar poles
stand at the center
of your Ancient Kivas.

You speak
in Heart tongues
Choose
Compassion
 Community
Compromise
Self- Govern
Equality

Maintain healthy distance
from poisoned peoples –
 You save Seeds,
and those you Love.
Pass on Stories
already Present
in Earth’s Memory

You offer genuine
hope for survival
for All
but no one is
listening to
your ways
your prayers
for Life.

 You never take
more than you
need, listen to
weasel and otter
deer and turkey
all manner of bears
Familiars all
Roots and Trees
 Plants Mushrooms
those you continue
to protect against
all odds
You sing to
the Underground
Web, Spiral Galaxies
 spin Light
overhead.
Resilience,
Patience,
Believing.

 When
dawn burns a hole
  through delusion
Evergreen
 boats carved
from hollowed trees
from hallowed trees
guided by
 Ancestral Tree Beings
will beach you on
 lush green shores.

‘In Beauty may you
walk
In Beauty may you
Walk.’ **

*All Indigenous peoples of this country call themselves the (first) People

**(The last sentence is part of the Navajo Night Chant enacted at this time of year)

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 I wrote this poem in Honor of Evergreens (and by extension all trees) and for the Native Peoples of this land. When I began,  I didn’t know I would be also writing a story of hope.

Most tribal nations describe themselves as the ‘First People” of this continent, which of course they were and are. When colonists first came to conquer, they cut down the Old Ones, evergreens, and shot the animals. They raped the women and murdered whole villages using disease and guns to manifest their goals. When the violent oppressors stole Indigenous land, the People were driven from their homes and stuffed onto reservations where they were left to starve. For five hundred years Indigenous persecution has dominated the lives of these people who continue to persevere despite being made invisible by their American oppressors. Genocide lives on. Accustomed to suffering the People continue to  create Community, live the Great Round, hold close their songs dances and Ceremonies, pass on the Stories that their Elders tell about a time when the People will be finally free from tyranny…Each tribe has different variations but at the core of each story is that Change is Coming, and that the People will live on.

The Time of Change that they speak of is upon us now.

As Nature demonstrates, western culture with its lust for economic wealth and power has brought us all to edge of catastrophe, one that includes the death of non – human species, intolerable human suffering across the globe and the destruction of the earth as we know it.

Living through the sixth extinction is not easy. Sorrow runs deep. I center my winter ceremony around the Tree of Life, of which there are many…. I honor all trees but especially during the winter I lean into the evergreens as many Indigenous peoples do, tipping boughs, and making a wreath to celebrate the Tree of Life and to participate in the Great Round. This year during the week of the solstice I created the shape of a ‘tree of life’ around my medicine wheel one evening that I didn’t even realize I’d done until the next morning. I never know where I am headed when I start to craft each year’s story which occurs in the same room but has a different focus each year. Nature’s artist takes over.