Counted

One, two, three

Why don’t you look at me?

Four, five, six

I’m tired of your tricks

Seven, eight, nine

I don’t want to hear your line

I need someone I can count on

Someone who’s not movin’ on

Someone who’ll divide sorrows

Be with me for all our tomorrows

Who’ll double joys to share

Who’ll take added care

I’ve been managing on my own

You won’t even pick up the phone

This is where our equation ends

We don’t even equal friends

One, two, three

Why don’t you look at me?

Four, five, six

I’m tired of your tricks

Seven, eight, nine

I don’t want to hear your line

I need someone I can count on

Someone who’s not movin’ on

Someone who’ll divide sorrows

Be with me for all our tomorrows

Who’ll double joys to share

Who’ll take added care

(c) 2020 by Catherine Elder

I'm sorry

Maybe I was nascent

or just too complacent

I couldn’t see

in front of me

they were just words

that weren’t heard

Residential schools

Polluted pools

Indian reserves

get what you deserve

tax free and alcohol

don’t break the fall

treaties broken

anger spoken

language forbidden

punishment given

removals and relocation

culture re-allocation

assimilate

annihilate

exterminate

is it too late

racist slurs

suppression burs

back doors

slanted floors

pushed back

accepted lack

stolen and chained

whipped and maimed

free blood labour

unwanted neighbour

slave

blood paved

freedom earned

crosses burned

poverty cage

unfairness rage

Maybe we can relate

there doesn’t need to be hate

Pain crosses thresholds

not competitions or molds

together we can heal

share how we feel

be kind

commonness find

let go of fear

start to hear

really see

our beauty

open our eyes

peel back the lies

start to hear

through the fear

be better together

a new forever

never again

alone in pain

open arms

come to no harm

equal and seen

forward from where we’ve been

(c)2020 by Catherine Elder

FIVE

She wears pink dresses and a crown

she’s five and no one has let her down

He wears a blanket for a cape

and runs to make his escape

she’s a princess, he’s a super hero

and the places they go

always have rainbows

there must be pirate treasure in the woods

and there’s magic in their neighbourhood

there are flying horses and unicorns

kittens and puppies newly born

there’s a chocolate fountain

and a sugar mountain

they spend their days dreaming

and some of it scheming

to be the best they can be

from all that they see

they expect to be loved

they expect to rise above

they believe in Santa Claus

that everyone obeys the laws

if they’re good they’ll get a reward

treasures or a magic sword

that life is theirs to play

sleep is just a dream away

anything is possible

take everything at a run

life is meant for dreaming

days are meant for having fun

let their imagination run wild

its only once you’re a child

(c)2020 by Catherine Elder