Isla, my second great-grandchild was born on April 21. She is little sister to big brother Carter, born May 29, 2023, deceased July 9, 2023. Isla is as perfect as perfect can get! Oh how I love her! When granddaughter Kyrstin announced that a baby was being created in Kyrstin’s birth waters, I told the baby “I love you”.
That is the way it is with our people, we love our future generations even before their first breath of life is taken.
I wrote the following poem for Isla:
For Isla
When I first held you close
On the morning of your birth
I told you, in whispers
About the magnificent trees
Surrounding my home in Kitigan Zibi
I introduced you to the robin
The partridge, the turtle and the hawk
Spirit helpers of mine
Now yours to spiritually embrace
I took you to Bitobi Lake
And shared with you
The origins of the canoe
Together, you and I
Floated over white water
In a birchbark craft
How I smiled
To hear your joys of glee
And as you fell
Into peaceful slumber
I whispered
“Listen to my heart
Hear in its vibration
The heartbeat of my father
And that of my grandfather
Hear in it, the drumming
Of the heart of my mother
And that of my grandmother
Hear in my heart, the songs
Of your ancestors”
Remember the heartbeat, sweet Isla
I whispered these things
As I held you close
Keep the Circle Strong,
South Wind (Albert Dumont)
