1. A Sunday at Samish Island
@10-19-03
By Robin Carneen
For Bill, Jeff, Margaret Ann, & Leslie x 2(Jeff's wife & my cousin)....
An Eagle lands & sings an ancient song
A song his/her ancestors have echoed
From these very shores
That we now stand & reminisce on
Together
Once, when your were a little boy
You played on these rocky beaches
And laughed at your mother's wit
And ate "s’mores" with your family
Simultaneously, I was lost in the streets of San Francisco
Maybe even entrenched in some Foster Home
The furthest away from any connection to my
Salish/ Swinomish lineage
A way different experience than I am having right now
Tears came to me often & I could no longer push them away
By the end of this day

2. I am so grateful for our synchronized meeting
The water mesmerizes me, teases me with some old memory
A feeling of familiarity washes over me
And I understand now that my ancestors
Must have watched you from their ghost canoes
Whispering steadily, creating ripples, like they did this afternoon
Assurances & promises that you & I would meet someday
You told me on the way home in your fast car
That never in your wildest dreams
That when you were a child
Would you have guessed
That some day, this day
You would be standing with a Northwest native woman
On the very Island that you called your summer home
And as we were leaving
Another pretty native woman joined us
As we were saying goodbye to her European husband
Who had been our gracious host
Allowing us to visit our old world for a little while
She is Choctaw & Cherokee
You could see it in her curvy high cheekbones
And her distinct earthy wide eyes

3. I smiled, looking at them, it was like looking at us
I thought it would only be a northwest coast native
That would be helping me fill in the 42 year old blanks
Of my past
Creator picked you to be my guide
Like a mountain man, from way back
And you are proudly showing me the way home
As we left, I could feel many eyes on us
The Eagle and my ancestors watched this visit
And approved...and we're glad to see us
We are all finding our way back to each other
Whether you are native or not
And together we can patiently find many of the missing pieces
The links that have been scattered in this wind for too long