Neville

Ah-Weh-Eyu - Pretty Flower

Ah-Weh-Eyu - Pretty Flower

 

Ah-Weh-Eyu

my pretty flower

Daughter

of the once great

Seneca nation

How I wonder,

did you ever know

Just how beautiful

you were

Back in the day ..

Ah-Weh-Eyu

my pretty flower

Forget those

trade beads, furs

and feathers

And the lies of all

the white men

Who once

queued outside

your tepee,

with false promises

of peace

and full bellies

For your children

Ah-Weh-Eyu

my pretty flower

Forget

black powder

lightening sticks

and broken mirrors

I want to

take you with me

On a journey

of self-discovery

Through dark

forests and across

those deep rivers

To a place of safety

and then to

teach you, just how

beautiful

You now really are

without the baggage

or that war paint

propaganda we have

all since

grown to despise

Ah-Weh-Eyu,

my pretty flower

I want to always

see you clearly in the

flash and shine

of crazy glazed bowls

and copper kettles

Far removed from all

the sepia, lithographs

and old photo’s stored

in biscuit tins

and these cigar boxes

Beneath the beds

of my own ancestors

Themselves,

now long since passed ..