Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


COMING BACK by JOSEPH BRUCHAC

First Line: WHEN THEY WOKE ME
Last Line: MOVE IN DANCE TO A DISTANT DRUM
Subject(s): NATIVE AMERICANS - GENEALOGY & HERITAGE;

When they woke me
tangled in their blue nets
the worm holes in my hands were gone

a bright painted boat
danced in the water
like a tethered colt

apparently
i had learned something
for i did not ask them why
or who i was
but stood
touched their hands and foreheads
and began to walk
up the golden sword's arc of sand

now
a thousand years
and two continents away
you wonder why my feet
move in dance to a distant drum




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