Where Pocahontas Died

The town of Pocahontas in Alberta, Canada, existed briefly for miners to extract coal for the First World War.

Where Pocahontas Died

A wapiti, heavy with calf, is grazing
near the place they called Pocahontas.
Where they came to plunder the treasure
beneath the ground, tracking north through forest
on bear-trails.

The great mountains,
grey faces covered by shrouding cloud
and topped with white,
roared their anger as their hoard
was pillaged. They sent fierce winds and snow
that lay in thick slabs. Tendrils of ice
like frozen tears began to trickle
and formed gushing rivers.

The air and forest blazed with fire
but the precious lode was scoured
until that day when all was empty;
the earth and the ghost shacks, the bones
of another age.

The cow-elk turns mournfully to me, its eyes
dark and wet, then back to gaze upon the place
where Pocahontas died.

Tim Fellows 2019

Image by skeeze from Pixabay