They Take Away... Poem by Denis Martindale

In a film I saw about Geronimo today,

I heard the words of Geronimo to a young Apache boy,

As he described what was happening,

Happening to them both in their time...


They take away...


First they take your land...

Then they take your people... one at a time...

Then your food... your music... your dances...

And then... even your words... and your thoughts...


And the Apache boy replied,

So what?


For what could he do?


And when I meditated on these truths,

I remembered that America is now the United States,

The champion of freedom known across the world...

Yet this same champion still has the Atomic bombs...

And should those bombs ever be unleashed, what then?

Then I will remember the words of Geronimo,


They take away...


First they take your land...

Then they take your people... one at a time...

Then your food... your music... your dances...

And then... even your words... and your thoughts...



Denis Martindale, May 2015.