Tequesta Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

They braved dark hammocks’ secret threats
And wetlands’ hidden ridges
They cut their skins on coastal rocks
In dugouts’ hand hewn bridges

They lassoed whales as big as mounds
Tattooing their existence
Upon the layers of long ago
In sinewy persistence

They carved sharp tools from conch shell shards
Caught fish from offshore reefs
A hardy breed, they tamed the threat
Of Everglades green griefs

They staked their claim on firm bedrock
The mouth of the Miami
A river once quite beautiful
Though short its length and glory

Tequesta was their settlement
That spanned two thousand years
Tequesta was a tribe of note
Among their native peers

They came, they went, and time moved on
As it is wont to do
But when I walk on ground they tread
I bid a sad adieu.