Appalachian Torch
A Tribute to Helen Matthews Lewis
When tectonic plates collided from ancient ocean floor,
Before Clovis and Coosa, before Allegheny, Blue Ridge and Piedmont,
Those mountains were born, maternal from infancy,
Cloaked in red oak, chestnut, maple, spruce and sycamore,
Sheltering Algonquin, Spanish, French, Irish, German and Cherokee--
Embracing inhabitant and explorer, livelihood and anticipation,
Honoring the communities that honored the mountains,
Mountains and community, you are one in Appalachia!
Before Clovis and Coosa, before Allegheny, Blue Ridge and Piedmont,
The Cherokee say the Buzzard tired and fell when the Great Flood receded.
Thus emerged Shaonage, land of blue smoke, Great Smoky Mountains.
The Spaniards heard a Muskogean word that became the name “Appalachia”.
After the name the immigrants came and some named the indigenous “savages”,
While others called the immigrants “hillbillies”; thus each stranger named the other.
The ones who were the least familiar hastened to give the names,
While others hastened to take the land but almost no one hastened to understand.
Those mountains were born, maternal from infancy,
Newcomers would name and create a new Plot Balsam and Cumberland,
When Ulster and Palatinate would see them no more,
On land from which the French and Spanish had long departed.
There relentless hope lived in glimpses of sunbeam and star,
In the ring of voice and dulcimer, in the tender shoots of spring,
In camaraderie in the mines, and in family at the hearth,
And in the clutch of a Bible in a stiffened, work-gnarled hand.
Cloaked in red oak, chestnut, maple, spruce and sycamore,
Was the carnage of rebellion, starvation and black lung.
The Trail of Tears became the even Greater Flood,
While a new buzzard circled above an embryonic nation,
Nurtured in those mountains that the strangers had long ago named--
As the Cherokee reclaimed their name to honor Mother Earth.
Native American, European, and African-American---all Americans
Trading, farming, fighting, reconciling, breathing….. became Appalachia.
Sheltering Algonquin, Spanish, French, Irish, German and Cherokee--
Though now just weeping memories of the departed Algonquin Shawnee,
And remnants of that Muskogean word that the Spanish thought they heard,
And echoes of the battles where the ghosts of French forts lurked,
But breathing life to stalwart Irish, German and resilient Cherokee
And manumission and refuge to those bound in slavery,
The coal cars and the railroad rumbled through the mountains and underground,
Some to take the blue-black rock, some to free the Black in bondage.
Embracing inhabitant and explorer, livelihood and anticipation
Not of accumulation or extraction but of life and community,
A torch-bearer would arrive from near Athens (not in Greece but Georgia)
With her own tectonic collision against injustice and exploitation.
Galvanizer of youth suffrage and of racial equality,
Inspired by the Cotton Patch Gospel, evangelist for integrity,
Founder of Wise Library, she enabled Wise to become even wiser,
Teacher, student, scholar and advocate, she moved Virginia’s mountains.
Honoring the communities that honored the mountains,
She analyzed and acted, inspired others on their paths
As zesty as her chow chow and ginger pear preserves,
At Highlander then in Jellico, Ivanhoe and McDowell
Sister with Glenary Sisters, purposeful pilgrim in Wales,
To European, South American and Sub-Saharan African mines,
Warrior for workers, women, water, and well-being,
Catalyst and crusader for courageous community-based change.
Mountains and community, you are one in Appalachia!
Shout and sing from the heavens your song of gratitude!
Helen still lifts her flaming torch above the darkling night,
Into the mountains, forests, rivers, and mines, faithful citizens leading together,
As Cherokee, Scotch-Irish, German and African-American,
On fiddle and dulcimer, banjo, gourd rattle and water drum
Play and sing their hymns united, dance in liberty and equity,
Proclaiming, "We are Appalachia, peaceful, wise, proud and free!”
