She is a Daughter

She is a daughter
She is a mother
She is a sister
She is a grandmother

Her young ample body
walking in the snow
feet bleeding
face numbing

Ghosts on horses
telling her to move along
She falls
She takes her mother’s hands
She will not survive the walk
walking towards the sunset
Death will find her tomorrow
Embraceable Death

Her son argues with her more often
He goes out drinking
not coming home for days
Last night he stole her car
He never returned
leaving pain and tears

Her brother the young warrior
will not come home today
The burial ceremony has begun
It is said that he fought for America
fighting for a country
that destroyed his ancestors
She weeps as they raise his body
Fearless he was
She misses him

Alone on a porch
no one visits her anymore
In her eyes you glimpse what she has seen
Her face tells the story of her life
Each line
each wrinkle
the knowledge that she carries
the visions she has seen
unshared
unknown
a life faded away
a history gone
She weeps no more.

Tvli Jacob is a student at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.