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.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
' I can hear the lady weep through the throats of herons blue', a wonderful poem!