I started my writing life at an early age, in love with life and prose. Many of my poems were about my two favorite subjects. You guessed it. The desert Southwest and the Native American people. Both were then and still are very dear to my heart and spirit. Here’s a little sampling I felt inclined to share.
The Anasazi
by Sharon Silva
Oh, ancient ones, I hear you speak
I hear your voices still
And among the crumbled ruins seek
The spirit of your undying will
The bits and pieces of your past
Call to me from this place
A place where ancient spirits cast
The shadows of a long lost race
You walk the paths of ancient lands
Your whispers carry on the wind
The imprints of your ancient hands
Touch my soul, oh ancient kin
Along the crumbled walls I hear
The echoes from beyond
Your lives held hardship, pain and fear
But it was here that you belonged
I feel your eyes from far away
Watching over these sacred sands
Trying to teach us in our modern day
The truth of these native lands
And so I walk the canyons deep
And mesas where you dwelled
And seek to find before I sleep
The secrets that you held
Came the Red Man
by Sharon Silva
Came the red man to this place
Strong and lean and sharp of face.
Came the bison to the grassy plain
The blood of life with a shaggy mane.
Came the gray wolf strong and proud
Wise and cunning, so endowed.
Came the eagle full of grace
To float through the sky in this peaceful place.
Came the deer and the creatures of night.
Came the fish and birds of flight.
Came the life in the red man’s way.
Came the peace of the red man’s day.
Mother Earth and Father Sky,
Sacred lands and gray wolf’s cry.
Oh, Great Spirit, bless this land
Hold it in your mighty hand.
Soar your eagles far and wide,
Keep us from cold with the buffalo’s hide.
Keep us fed from the wealth of the land.
Great Spirit, hold us in your hand.
Came the white man to our land
And crushed it with his great white hand.
Came the white man to our peaceful home
Destroyed the land where the bison roamed.
Changed our culture, built his schools,
Taught our children white man’s rules.
Came to chase gray wolf away
Came to kill and ride away.
Came the white man to this sacred place.
Came the tears to the red man’s face.
Came to break our world apart.
Came and broke Great Spirit’s heart.