I Call on You
Oh, Mighty Sonoran
Oh, Mighty Sonoran,
I fight back tears
for what they’ve
done to God’s Brown Children,
Sonorans for hundreds of years,
for how they’ve
banned their studies,
lied about their heroes,
stolen books filled with their histories
like purse snatchers
abusing passers-by
on dangerous urban streets
while they cried in their classroom seats.
I wonder how such hate,
could for a moment,
foment in the human brain
when all around there lies your beauty,
in so many wondrous forms:
as mountain peaks high above the timberlines;
as hillsides of proud posturing sahuaros;
as fire breathing deserts and lazy tropics;
as grasslands and chaparral;
delightful moons;
sunsets that warm the heart;
monsoons
that flash
frightening lightning shows
that unleash crackling sonic booms.
But human ugliness reigns,
upon your vast terrain,
a strain
of irrationality
suffered by the Powers-that-be
that has metastasized
into a real fear that God’s Brown Children
will discover truths
that might set them free
to think,
to analzye,
to strive
to enrich their communities
as they better their lives.
So, I call on you,
oh, Mighty Sonoran.
I call on you
to give the children
wings to fly
high above the hysteria,
with ease,
as they please
like desert birds
riding in the currents
of your gentle breezes.
I call on you
to infuse them
with compassion
for their fellow human beings,
able to reach out
far and wide
like the ferocious flames
in your runaway fire storms,
like the relentless forces in your
dust devils and whirlwinds
that fill spaces
and crevices
that are open to them.
I call on you
to keep their hearts
contentrated on a world
where everyone
can realize
their hopes and dreams.
I call on you
to keep love in their bosoms
where it can radiate
like the waves of vapors
that rise from your burning floor,
bringing about a form of human respect and understanding
to your land
on a par with your masterpiece,
the Grand Canyon,
that you hold so dear.
I call on you to still my tears.
Once again, Ernie, I am over whelmed by your words. The picture you paint is gut wrenching. Thanks again for making us think. Judi
Just trying to touch a loving nerve in the universe.
So beautiful dad. Love how you say God’s Brown Children. It’s truly appalling what is happening in schools in your beloved home state. Human ugliness indeed! I hope your call is heard.
Thanks, mija. I hope my call is heard too.
Inspiring Ernie. I’ve been keeping track of all your wonderful prose/poetry/stories lately. Thank you my friend.
My pleasure, amigo.
Ernie, Beautiful. Really beautiful.
Thank you, Shelley.
Having lived in Seeley for a couple of years and also the upper desert(Grandview), the photo and words do bring back some really nice memories,and some others not so nice.
I think I know exactly what you mean .
Oh, the honor to have been there when the bones of this beautiful, passionate poem were laid out on the page!
You, Sheila, were the winds beneath my wings on this piece.
Brother Ernie,
Once again you are right on time! Keep up the fight and most of all, Keep the faith. Beautiful words indeed.
Delano
Thank you, my fellow Tucson High legend and friend (smile).
Having grown up in Tucson, your words ring a cord on every level. Thank you for saying what I couldn’t.
Hey, I just want Arizona to start acting pretty.
Ernie – truly beautiful, and brings tears to my eyes, also. It’s appalling what is happening in Arizona, and I fear it won’t stop there. It worries me so to see the hateful turn things in this country have taken.
Hatred is one ugly sucker.
Nice Ernie…..the bad news is AZ might be up front with their hate and bigotry but it seeps in and out of every pore of California as well…I am disheartened and unenchanted about where education has gone in the 31 years I have been working ….
Prayer is a very big part of each and every day
Hate and bigotry are, indeed, everywhere and we can only stand up against such attitudes steadfastly.