HERKIMER'S FRIEND
You breathe strong from your heart —
breaths that offer and give life,
for your beauty magnifies the blessings
one doesn't look to find within the strife.
Your tears are messengers of could of's ...
would of's ... should of's ... yet, also
courier of what only spirit can express.
Your laughter heals in troubled times,
sending electric waves that re-awaken your baby boy's heart.
Intrinsic Being belonging to spirit,
you are a sacred woman — a courageous woman — a kind woman.
You are the world to so many — you are the world to me.
You open up my eyes, allowing me to sight see
outside into the expanse of stability shackled man broken free.
Lifter of life, my heartbeat resides within your heartbeat,
an unbroken connection created by Creator
and nourished through the earth.
Eagle flew by before you gave birth.
Sun shines even when it rains,
just as the moon gives light to the darkest of night.
You've taught me to be a mountaineer of the world,
never giving up. You've shown me how to persevere.
Through your very own perseverance you teach
what materialism cannot reach.
Your courage is boundless. Love is a constant.
Love is a constant.
Love is a constant always flowing and never ending. I love you Momma.
You are a matriarch who taught and teaches
Sister, Kyah, and Malique how to love their children unconditionally as you love yours.
You're a great grandma who passes on a powerful lineage to Xavier Nolan James.
You're the reason I know it's okay to cry. Thirty-five years old,
boy grown man.
You installed in me a kindness that is bone deep —
deep into the being of who I am.
Thank you ... Thank you ...
Thank you for being strong ... for being weak;
for admitting wrongs and leaping bounds over mountain peaks.
Thank you for stumbling and getting back up;
for making a way when there was no way;
for defying odds and rising into a new day.
I sing out in honor of you ……….
For song can be extension of prayer; song is power; a connection to being;
an articulation that dismantles chains,
both the seen and unseen.
I sing for your health,
and spiritual wealth,
for you are a very rich woman,
a beautiful woman, a highly intelligent woman who is never alone.
I love you, Momma. | NB
NOLAN JAMES BRIDEN WAS RAISED IN PORTLAND, OREGON. HIS ROOTS BLOOM FROM RICH CULTURES, BLACKFEET AND IRISH. HE WRITES: “I’M JUST GETTING TO A POINT IN THE EXPLORATION OF WRITING TO BE ABLE TO SAY IT IS A RELATIONSHIP THAT I UNDERSTAND; THEN, I READ A DIFFERENT STYLE, FORM, OR WAY OF WRITING AND MY JOURNEY RESTARTS TO UNDERSTAND.” NOLAN IS A MEMBER OF THE LAKOTA OYATE-KI CULTURE CLUB AT OREGON STATE PENITENTIARY AND HE IS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE GROUND BENEATH US WRITING GROUP.
