"Things are good
kids are happy and divine
the past is gone
stick to the present
look forward
history is complicated
and tangling
Let's build a shining future now!"
and those words hit differently
they hit hard
when Kokum remembers them from a letter the Indian Residential School Principal had sent home one year
Kokum knows what the letter meant by
"happy, divine, past, gone, tangling, and let's build"
They hit hard
Kokum reads them anyway
like she has for years
Oh my child, she says, oh my child, I cannot tell you now how I exactly felt back then
Because they took our words, our ways!
Can you look into my eyes?
they carry the truth
they do
Can you hear the mountains weep?
Can you hear the rivers call?
Can you feel the burden in the wind?
Can you hear the mountains weep?!
They carry the truth
They do
They will
Remember, my child, remember!
They took our words
but they cannot take our voice
they cannot take our valor
our willingness to move
to move
move