7 - 6 Red Deer, Alberta; it took a lot of guts

Reconciliation

By Rebecca Tabobodung

We are waking up to our history
      from a forced slumber
We are breathing it into our lungs
      so it will be part of us again
It will make us angry at first
      because we will see how much you stole from us
      and for how long you watched us suffer
      we will see how you see us
      and how when we copied your ways
      it killed our own

We will cry and cry and cry
      because we can never be the same again
But we will go home to cry
      and we will see ourselves in this huge mess
      and we will gently whisper the circle back
      and it will be old and it will be new

Then we will breathe our history back to you

      you will feel how strong and alive it is

      and you will feel yourself become a part of it

And it will shock you at first

      because it is too big to see all at once

      and you won’t want to believe it

      you will see how you see us

      and all the disaster in your ways

      how much we lost

And you will cry and cry and cry

       because we can never be the same again

But we will cry with you

      and we will see ourselves in this huge mess

      and we will gently whisper the circle back

      and it will be old and it will be new

Rebecca Tabobodung is a member of the Wasauksing First Nation (Parry Island, Ontario),  

a poet, activist, and filmmaker. She lives in Toronto

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Thank you

A Healing Journey for Us All,  United Church of Canada, p11 

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