The Final Cost
A river course that bears the name
of those who once lived here
bears likeness, none,
to anyone
of those who once lived here.
For tribes long gone will not appear.
Their time here was undone.
So, double-crossed,
the Osage lost.
Their time here was undone.
To take their land a tale was spun,
their home the final cost.
The white man’s claim
a nation’s shame,
their home the final cost.
This stream they once looked across
will never be the same.
The land held dear
in yesteryear
will never be the same.
On Thursday, I went hiking at Painted Rock Conservation Area, known for its view of the Osage River from towering bluffs, and for petroglyphs on those rock walls. (Shown here in filtered images to compensate for erosion, the petroglyphs are only seen from the river when the trees are bare.) The Osage River is named for the Osage, the Native American tribe dominant in Missouri when the land was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. In 1825, the Osage were removed from Missouri to Kansas, and later to Oklahoma where they fared better than other tribes. Many times, I’ve imagined the spirit of the Osage sitting beneath this rock ledge, surveying the land that once was theirs.
A short video from The Smithsonian briefly discusses how the Osage lost the land that once was theirs, while one from the St. Louis Art Museum focuses on their legacy in the 20th century and forward.
I returned home from hiking to see the prompt from Laura Bloomsbury at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, MTB: In a Roundabout Way, where we are asked to write a Roundabout. This is my response.
The Roundabout is a recent form, attributed to David Edwards
• four quintains (five-line stanzas) for a total of twenty lines
• iambic meter throughout
• lines have 4;3;2;2;3 feet, respectively
• line 5 repeats line 2
• rhyme scheme is aBccB bCddC cDaaD dAbbA
rivrvlogr 
you nailed it Ken – despite all the restrictions, your poem flowed like the Osage river. Such a telling tale too especially that second verse
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Thank you, Laura, and thank you for the prompt.
The next day, I read this at an open mic. It was well received, so I decided to submit it to a publication. I reworked it so I could add a stanza in the middle, which meant a major edit to carry the rhyme scheme, resulting in this:
aBccB bCddC cDeeD dEaaE eAbbA
Maybe I should call this form “The Long Way Around.” 😉
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excellent Ken
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Thanks!
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Beautiful! Have a nice weekend! xx Michael
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Thank you, Michael.
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Truly a nation’s shame.
Our prosperity and opportunities, built so much by the oppression and exploitation. nice reflective use of the form.
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Thank you, and definitely agreed.
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I’m sure their spirit is still there. But the people should still be there too. (K)
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Great message and you nailed the form.
Much❤love
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Thank you, Gillena. ❤
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I like that you are bearing witness to Osage and their plight/journey.
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Thank you, Paul.
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Very welcome indeed Ken
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Very well written, Ken. We have a very sad history of entitlement in the US. We seem to be no better than those in the rest of the world that we like to vilify! You have written a beautiful tribute to the Osage Tribe.
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An excellent combination of poem and history, and the poem is artfully crafted. Using that form with this topic makes me think about how history repeats itself.
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Beautifully crafted piece and a lovely tribute to the Osage Tribe.
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🙂 Thank you.
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Most welcome, Ken!
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They fared better, and only lost their land… I wonder how much of their culture that is lost with the loss of their land though
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Wonderful use of this form, Ken. I was fascinated by the petroglyphs!
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