tahoe

I breathed the last
of the air you had

heard the last of the silence
you heard in night

drank melted snow
from rock fountains

in springs before
the olympics
and we who came
violated your valley
and left it for dead
buried under pavement

and before
the sins of those
who called you savages
were forborne into mine

and how gifts divine
come to be buried in shame

2023