"Adirolf"

Before you read this entry, I would like you to read the previous one, especially the last section. It can shed some light on this poem.

adirolF
By: (HurricaneTeen)

A gravel road
cut out of swamp and pine
winds through the memories
of my mind.
My thoughts wind down
this road of memories,
taking me back
to that family of mine.

We lived humbly
among the
cows and swine.
We ate a few gophers,
and a gator
from time to time.
Old folks sat
in rocking chairs,
waving as I
passed them by.
I loved them all dearly,
and I considered them
mine.

Our house was
built of cypress,
and our spirit of
heartwood pine.
But our life was
soon to unravel,
like a spool
of cotton twine.

That gravel road
is a highway,
and the pine exists
nevermore.
The rocking chairs
sit empty,
and the people crave
more and more.

I do not recognize
this place
without the hammocks
of palm and oak.
The gophers were
buried and suffocated,
and the land
covered with houses
like a cloak.

Our swamps now sit empty,
The panthers no longer run free.
Our river is choked with toxins,
And shredded are the backs
Of the manatee.

Our culture is dying,
Our Southern flag
No longer can we see.
Our house now sits empty,
No old folks left
To wave at me.

Oh!
How the heart aches
Inside of me!

Take me back
to my road of memories!
Take me away
from this place!
My people are gone,
but not forgotten.
The extermination
of a race.