After the land was stolen…
claimed by a stake thrust in the ground,
fenced when arguments ensued concerning
rights for property, water, or grazing.
A war was declared and guns fired
the transfer of ownership folded in paper
with a wax stamp from a government official.
It didn’t matter that generations before
the land was hunted and farmed by
my ancestors before the sixteen hundreds.
Yesterday's abundance was once shared
so neighbors could survive adversity
but now first names are changed
Jesus is Jess, Celestina now Sally
and the mother tongue almost obliterated.
All business is conducted in English.
What was once familiar, is now foreign,
the native has become the stranger
even though the bones of my grandparents
and so many grandparents before them
lie deep in the ground.
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