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Tribal Elders
| Open Poetry #10 |
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Tribal Elders |
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jwesley Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563Spring, Texas 
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Tribal Elders The old men, tribal elders, five in all, walking along the road's edge where blacktop ended and gravel, giving way to desert sand began, in single file made their way from the battered trailer they share to the reservation's grocery-beer hall; a five mile trek, daily made, for one beer apiece. The eyes of the first denim clad, cotton shirted old man wearing a battered, black cowboy hat with a single black-tipped, white feather stuck in the band, back slanted as if wind blown, stared straight ahead guiding the way, seeing all there was to see. The second, dressed as they all were, in similar attire, walked in step slightly behind, listening; listening to every thing there was to hear, everything heard before, all sounds present today, and those that would not be known until tomorrow. Third in line with hair as grey as the wolf, the oldest of them all walked in step with the elder before , occasionally licking his lips, inhaling deeply, waving a hand through the air, tasting all, testing the way. Well into life, yet the youngest. the tallest of the five was fourth in line, shuffling his feet in the gravel and sand, reaching up to touch the man before him, feeling the air the ground, life and death's eternal circle dancing over the earth. Last, and shortest of all, came an older man, in step with the rest, constantly turning his head from side to side, up and down, sniffing, smelling the scents of the earth, the air, the sky. Five old warriors, who had seen more years, and in those years, more things, than most of the tribe held in collective memory; five old braves with stave's in their left hands tracking the blacktop's edge without touching; five old men, mostly blind and deaf, aged and weary, seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, touching in ways the rest of us have forgotten, walking tall, straight, peaceful and contented in their souls. w.james beard, jr. |
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| © Copyright 2000 Wesley James Beard, Jr. - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Kethry Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-29
Posts 9082Victoria Australia |
walking tall, straight, peaceful and contented in their souls. Oooohh I like this. Kethry "It is the image in the mind that links us to lost treasures; but it is the loss that shapes the image, gathers the flowers weaves the garland."- |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
James, this is wonderful... Karilea When you want to be loved, look within...KRJ |
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Waverly917 Member
since 2000-09-23
Posts 90Hugo, MN |
I really like the sensory images you create here. Its great! Abra "So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains And we never even know we have the key." -Already Gone, The Eagles |
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