Forgotten Ground Regained
Kinguleruttui The survivors
We settled here, scarcely believing our fortuneno more to scull the seas. The island was safe butthere were many deaths: driven by the darknessmen killed their kin; others drowned in shallow water
before they could reach the sea. The island was safe butthere was no earth to cultivate, nowhere to bury those menkilled by their kin. Bodies float in shallow water.Corpses were left to rot, covered in rocks to hinder beasts:there was no earth to hold them. Where could we hide the deadwhen our sons were buried alive on the barren rock?They were left to die, smothered in stones to keep them still;the winter was their warder. Snow blew over the bones
of the firstborn buried alive on the highest rock.The ice on those cairns was as good as a key in a lock:the winter, their warder. Wind blew between the stones and if sometimes it sounded like a child crying to be free
the ice on each cairn was as good as a key in a lock.And so we settled, scarcely believing our fortune,although it might sound as if we were crying to be free,crying for a death to deliver us from darkness.
Copyright © Nancy Campbell, 2015. First published in Disko Bay
No part of this site may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems