Copper Ghosts

I hear the voices in the wind,
the voices of the dark-eyed people
who are strangers,
who walked the land long before
any of my folk travelled
to these parts.
Sometimes,
I see their shades,

and it seems to me that they are
looking for something that they love,
that they can no longer find.
When I hear them call
in the cry of eagles,
in the rustling of a pine tree,
in the song of Salmon Rivers,
I wonder
just who are the strangers
and who the welcome family
of this wild, lovely land.


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