i am wyoming

i am wyoming
from two makes whole
finally at rest

Sheridan my mother's home
Newcastle my father's
I born in his home town
He born in
mine Hot Springs

these lands come together in the
splendor and wonder
the winds on the plains
the rivers the rolling hills
blue Tetons

most humble
people on earth
always a neighbor
seldom seen, always near

i am part red rock canyon wall
i am snaking river replenishing
i am grazing antelope and hawk above

tower of the sacred, devil's tower
cave of wind, crystals, fossils,
arrow heads

I am this land
Black Hills
Nebraska plains
Tetons Rockies
I am the Poudre and
the Platte
and Old Woman Creek

the eagle and the
hummingbird
pheasant and the quail

i am of the earth
on this first day of celebration
when the spirits
dance for spring

come together from such vast borders
whole clay and part blood
the Wounded Knee and Little BigHorn
accomplice by the color
of my skin

I am the sky watching
and when the clouds finally
part, as they always must

I am the rock and the scrub tree
the ponderosa pine and
the sandstone of our past, embedded