Written after visiting Knife River Village near Fort Mandan where Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery waited out the winter of 1804 before proceeding on to the Pacific.
Terror in her Eyes
As I walked the Knife River trail
a dust cloud swirled and fell
and earth lodges appeared by the score
extending down to the river banks.
Hidatsa women sang at their chores,
husking corn -
beading moccasins -
scraping a buffalo hide.
A band of hunters dismounted
and released their ropes -
dropping two deer and an elk
by the hanging rack.
Triumphal shouts from the river
turned all heads to the shore
where warriors returned
from Shoshone fields,
lashed up canoes and dragged
their human spoils up the rise.
Several squaws reached out
from the gathering crowd
and carried off two of the children.
A Shoshone girl with terror in her eyes
cringed as a warrior raised his arm.
"No, tell your Hidatsa name!"
Sobbing she choked through broken tears,
"My name is Sacagawea."
I bolted to breach the walls of time
to face death in her defense
but a new whirling cloud intervened.
When the dust fell away
all the lodges had vanished
with all the Hidatsa villagers.
Kneeling down to the Dakota grass.
I caressed a circular hollow
etched deeply in the silent earth.
August 6, 2010
So realistic is this account Robert that history was replayed and there in the dust cloud your poetic aptititude re-engaged the scene with breaching the "walls of time" for a while. Powerful verse.
I love the layout of this wonderful poem. 'I struggled to breach the walls of time' is a masterly line that says everything. A raw slice of history served with compassion and beauty.
if only you could have breached time excellent write