Canyon de Chelly

The junipered plateau

goes from the windshield

to the horizon…

No hint until

the sudden

brink.

The sandstone-walled

abyss

carved by Chinle Wash.

Cottonwoods crowd

the temporary flow

before the water sinks

beneath the sand

and the corn and beans,

squash and melons,

can begin to

grow

and prayers are made

in spring for summer rain

that may or may not

come

to infiltrate the roots

of the farmers’

canyon summer plots.

the walls still bear

the pictographs

left by the cliff dwellers,

then the Hopi,

then the most recent

summer farmers, the Diné         .

Images of antelope and deer,

the horses of the Spanish expedition

in 1805, who massacred

115 women, children, elderly,

hiding in a cave.

The men were away,

hunting in the mountains.

Now the guides take us

through the water, the sand,

under the cottonwoods

with offroad vehicles.

We marvel:

at the canyon walls

the cliff dwelling ruins,

The high formation

known as Navajo Fortress

where a thousand Diné

spent the winter of 1863.

The US Army, led by Kit Carson

was trying to remove the people from

the canyon but his men

couldn’t scale the cliffs.

So they waited until summer

and the surrender of the people.

The Diné who were captured,

were force marched to Fort Sumner

400 miles away in New Mexico

where they were prisoners for several years

3,000 of the 8,000 who were sent there,

died.

In 1868 the survivors were allowed

to return to their homelands.

The Diné call this The Long Walk.

And they are still there

with their summer plots and livestock,

their Jeeps and Blazers,

and 

their stories.