What the Rain Said to Me

[written 02/22/15]

 

Outside my window the rain is falling.

like an ancient voice to me it’s calling

I listen to its timeless word

I let there be silence so it can be heard

From childhood’s trauma that voice was lost

Society’s trying to grow up was what it cost

My knowledge -- we and the land are one

My reverence for oakland, grass, and sun

This coastal desert plain where I was born

Where living life and heart was torn

Where for love of money the hair is shorn

No longer child for fear of scorn

In this Los Angeles basin where men go mad

For the love of money and the latest fad

And no sense of place or home to be

And no more goal of freedom’s free

For my ancestors once here this night I mourn

In this land where I was born

From my roots that I was torn

And my feelings all so ragged worn

Trying to be who I should be

In this land I try to see

Who we are and are born to do

Is much more than shiny shoe

And hair-do and money coup

Is living life all through and through

From the roof,  rain talks to me

I listen hard for pictures-see

Respect the land, an

d sea, and tree

Realize for sure, freedom’s not free

But built of work, respectfully

It’s all there, to live and see

And the rain tells it all to me

Mushrooms, food, from dale to sea

Respect the elders, those who know

Never stop, always grow

Rain is gift, its fruits will show

Now to dreamtime, I will go.