Proud back with a chest high in the air
Swaying with desire
Never knowing when to bend
Afraid to break
Walking into the wind
Bowing to the ravages of life
A life of hurling lessons
Mistakes that grow into other mistakes
Proud back with a chest high in the air
Swaying with desire
How do I stop this?
How do I bend?
What do I allow?
Questions tearing a grown person asunder
Begging God, doubting that there is one
Abandoned again for worthier causes
Pleading for respite but finding none
Proud back with a chest high in the air
Swaying with desire
Familiar with a man’s desire
A lot of fives feed young, hungry bodies
Those dirty fives keep clothes on young backs
Stinky fives keep a roof over children’s heads
Desperate that my children’s dreams be realized
Dreams that look past this circumstance
Proud back with a chest high in the air
Swaying with desire
Stopping for the briefest of moments
Catching glimpses of a stranger passing dirty shop windows
Recognizing this is not the dream that I once dreamed
Proud back with a chest high in the air
Swaying with desire
Hanging on
Hope is all I have left
Nicholas “Nick” Metcalf—Cetanzi (Yellow Hawk) writes about his journey, which may be a cautionary tale or a tale of triumph. Stay tuned. He also likes to write about the complicated lives of the people and communities he loves. An enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, he has made the Twin Cities his home for more than eighteen years. He still believes in love and is a hopeless romantic. During the day, he is a cog in the wheel of state bureaucracy, and at night, a fantastic ever-loving parent of a teenage son, Hoksicila Cante Ma Yuha (Child of My Heart).
Photographer Tony Ernst is a professional geek and amateur tinkerer. In his spare time, he wanders around with his camera waiting for something interesting to happen. He regularly posts photos at www.flickr.com/photos/gamelaner/