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Down in the Everglades
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Heritage and Legacy Marjory Douglas called it the River of Grass,
the seventy miles of water that gently flows
from Okeechobee to Florida Bay.
I met an old indian who told me he
was only a boy when the Tamiami Trail
crossed the his land, the "great swamp"
which, until then, was untouched.
He hid in the bushes and watched
as the road crew took his home.
Yet there was a balm among his people,
the Great Breathmaker, a spirit which
his people believe keep life in balance.
From hand carved dugout canoes to the
Trailways Bus Line, technology had
changed the lives of the Misccosukees.
Some were transported far away to
"another world called Oklahoma."
Survival of their race, in the end,
required having to exist in two
different worlds. Wars, deportations,
fighting for their culture and their land;
yet they survive.
Their world is different,
but their hearts are the same.
My recent trip down to swamp country
left me with a feeling of sadness for
the people who first inhabited the land.
As I drove slowly past a sugar cane
market, a white-haired indian
woman waved and smiled.
She appeared resigned to this life,
but in her eyes I could sense
she would never forget.
“Please Brake for Alligators,”
reflect occasional markers.
I wondered, for a moment,
how the 'gators felt
during those years of progress,
when their waters were disturbed.
The Everglades and Reservations
hold many secrets,
just as the winds and tides of the
waters surrounding the Florida
peninsular.
Some things are sacred to
a land and its people.
