|
In the time of ice and winter, wind and snow were all that came
|
|
Glaciers ruled their own dominion covering all within their range
|
|
Comes a time of subtle warming, shifting ice gouged out a path
|
|
Water followed in its footsteps changing landscapes as it passed.
|
|
Fleeing upward to the mountains leaving most things from their past.
|
|
Haida people fled in terror to escape the water's wrath.
|
|
On the edge of the new land mass ocean height began to climb
|
|
Watching gods wept tears of sorrow adding salt that made it brine.
|
|
Easing humans in their mourning kindly gods bequeathed a boon.
|
|
Placed an island in the ocean where a nation would soon bloom.
|
|
Thanking spirits for their counsel Haida people worked with trees.
|
|
Setting poles along the shoreline carved with gods that they had pleased.
|
|
Written in those grains of cedar is the history of this land.
|
|
Voiced in language that flowed freely from the work of carving hands.
|
|
They still stand around that island giving meaning to old worlds.
|
|
Part of folklore slowing waning lest we care to save their words.
|
GLACIERS
AT
THE
BEGINNING
OF
TIME