Skeletons
From Blood Run. Cambridge: Salt Publishing, 2006.
All that is good is with us–
remains in subtle dusk,
holds the base of lifetimes.
We belong here. Let us be.
Do not unsettle us.
Do not bring harm, nor further journey.
We have finished with this world,
have returned to it.
Until there is dust we must remain
settled here where we were lain.
Our people labored for this honoring
no human should dismantle prayer.
Reproduced with the permission of Allison Hedge Coke: poet, writer, filmmaker, founding director of the Literary Sandhill Crane Retreat & Lit CraneFest.