
AGATE STONE
"Stone sharpens stone.
Fire breeds fire.
So was it that our anger ignited.
Layer after layer it rose up
and burned us all."
-Apache elder
​
[Verse]
From the plains to the hilltop cliffs
where the ruins are extended
you no longer see that wooden fence
that kept order in the mission.
All that remains are coyote dreams
appearing through plumes of sage
where faces of catastrophe
come to take their place.
[Chorus]
Many claim to hear
a whisper in the smoke
speaking of the ways
their peaceful hearts were turned.
[Verse]
As soon as their dogs started barking
they could hear burning tents,
and there was no time for talking
to the men making their decent.
Some were too surprised for anger
but many knew the risk
of trusting a greedy stranger
whose promise was a trick.
​
[Chorus]
Many claim to hear
a refrain soft and low
rising from the fields
their trusting hearts were burned.
​
[Verse]
For many years they learned to fly.
For many years they raided.
Some poor fools even turned to spy
for the men whom they hated.
You can see phantoms of those days
in shadows spun like smoke
from the rocky cliffs and sedge
to the mines of agate stone.
​
[Chorus]
Many claim to see,
layered in the rock,
where coolness turned to heat
and heat turned to stone.
Photograph by Ashwin Samuel © 2016