Glades Forever Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

Golden skiffs glide silently
Night drops slow, then suddenly
Gators croak and soak in glade
Herons rest in mangrove shade

Silent is the Everglades
Hatching ancient sawgrass blades
Dark primordial rookery
Miccosukee sorcery

Men have tried to conquer it
Digging sludge and chewing grit
Black machetes took their toll
Slashing young palmettoes soul

Hearts of palm and hearts of terns
Fed the men who slept in ferns
Poling skiffs with bottoms flat
Killing, skinning otters fat

Tawny panthers were their prey
Feathers, plumes of yesterday
Ladies hats adorned in style
Gold in pockets for a while

Lonesome stands the Everglade
Razed and beaten, like a maid
Blind you wander, past your prime,
Windward leeward, like a mime

Panthers fell with silent thud
Gator holes now filled with mud
Soon the sawgrass, wild oats too
Abdicate to concrete's zoo

Yet when men and dogs do sleep
I can hear the lady weep
Through the throats of herons blue
Ghosts of Indians will court you

Just because you're growing bare
You still nurture orchids rare
And when progress blows away
You'll arise, and show the way.