MATTAPONI

The Mattaponi cemetery was sure green.
Allmonds, Langstons, Custalows
Buried long ago. Other, too.
On the backside of the Baptist Church

I asked one toothless man
(His hoe divided the earth in rows),
Just how big is the Reservation?
He mumbled (no teeth, you know),
It goes all around, all around,

There and there (he pointed), it goes all around.
Thank you, sir, I wandered off;
My horizons broadened by our little talk.

-- C.S. Cholas, 1975