Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CAT-TAILS, by KATHERINE TAYLOR


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CAT-TAILS, by                    
First Line: Then thousand regal cat-tails stand
Last Line: Once held the drifting, desert sands at bay.
Subject(s): Native Americans; Prairies; South Dakota; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America; Plains


I

Ten thousand regal cat-tails stand
A silent and forgotten band;
Their narrow leaves and tall crowned mace
Pervade and border every slough, and grace
Our sluggish, snake-like creeks;
The scouting rails, their beeks
Exploring close for loathsome fly,
Scarce stir the cat-tail blades burned dry
By summer sun. These straggling, serried ranks
Oft screened both friend and foe on river banks.

II

The cat-tail roots in early fall
Were once the common food of all
The Indians who roamed these treeless plains;
The flaky pollen-meal dyed golden stains;
Brown cakes or wholesome breads
Were made from ripened heads.
Then as the winter evenings fell,
While weaving mats, the squaws would tell
Of magic cat-tail-boats which safely crossed
The roughest streams where mad waves dashed and tossed.

III

Today in speeding cars none heed the cool, autumnal sky,
Or tawny cat-tail swamps, as red-wings rise with startled cry
Above their nesting place
In flags that interlace.
No longer men seek food or shelter grown
From roadside thicket reeds
Whose downy clouds of seeds
Along the lowlands far and near are blown.
But know: these cat-tail bands in stern array
Once held the drifting, desert sands at bay.





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