Four tree species tower above us in the old growth
Standing here reaching towards the sunlight
Above the moss and damp decay of the rain forest
Where the tiny sprouts of seedlings rise up green.
Five tribes walked these woods long before
The Europeans arrived with their saws and laws
Stealing their natural resources as private property
Destroying a way of life clear cutting for a fast buck.
The remaining islands of old growth bring ecotourists here
Learning the names of the giants left to witness
All that has happened here in the last five hundred years
Douglas-Fir, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, and Western Red-Cedar.
But the reservations languish in the pain of poverty
Proud people with unique art and culture and traditions
Holding on against the total loss of their identity
Quinault, Quineute, Makah, Klallam, and Skokomish.
The shaved hills regenerate a new growth forest
Lovely in its own way recapitulating the succession
Led by the red alders pioneering followed by big leaf maples
Dwarfed in time by the conifers a century later.
Do not forget as we consume the lumber
Do not forget as we eat the salmon
Do not forget as we drink the water
Remember the sacrifice of the first people.
