River Song The Day After

River Song

Today as the river flows

  and the eagle flies near by

red tail hawk eats a snake in the field

and the yellow gold leaves float

   from their branches to cover 

the earth below

  I feel my your our sorrow for the planet

 and I sing my your our praises

  to the river

I realize that in the shadows

 of our political system

I would  grieve a Hillary or a Trump

   the shadow feminine

and the shadow masculine

  a marriage that bubbled up from

an immature culture

  breeding pathology

I sing to those parts of me you our

 that have and still are

untended, unaccompanied

 starved with their faces pressed

to the window not invited 

 to the feast.

I celebrate the stand in North Dakota

the true politics

  the protection of land water air fire earth fire

the protection of the innocents and

the future generations

  the songs and the prayers

elders tending and speaking wisdom.

I sing gratitude for this deep longing

  this wailing, the way my feet stamp

the ground and say I am

here singing,  the way my tears fall 

on the ground and my eyes take in

the rising sun. I am here Singing

—Jewel At The Center and naomi too!

--collage art and  writing by Naomi Khan--