Crawford Lake: Indian Summer Camp … (another poem)

crusty corn kernels of long long ago date
the silent circular shores of this deep deep abandoned lake

Iroquois, Huron, Ojibway and an occasional Cree
traded and traversed here
broken pots, chipped arrowheads, hollow tent pole holes

mark the spots where
sun-filled bellies once slept content
after frog-filled nights of merriment

twig fire sparks swirled up to sky
as popping kernels fell like flickering fire flies
into the cool abyss of that calm black water

marking time for all to witness

we must not forget or
mourn these simple times of long ago

woodland travelers found rest here

famished families found food here

long earred corn took root here
on these silent shores of this lake
so calm now and so deep

generation
after
germination