The Mother Speaks

by Resineith Pernebsati

I remember.

The purity of air.

The freeness of the waters’ flow.

An abundance of life

Unbroken lands, where lines were not drawn across my body and called borders.

I was here before your name.

I will exist after you are gone.

Your permission is not needed for me to endure.

Your wealth, extracted from my depths.

Progress for you, is poisoning me.

You claim to own what cannot be owned.

What I hold is greater than anything you can think to “create.”

I hold the bones of those who came before.

The memories you tried to erase.

The roots of everything uprooted.

The truth of everything that has been rewritten.

He placed his foot on my back.

Built empires on my body.

I’ve been holding the weight of you and everything you stole.

Silently.

Patiently.

I will not forget.

I will not forgive.

I will simply…outlast.