Unbrokken
By: Ruben Cu:k Ba’ak
Tribal affiliation: Tohono O’odham
I come to you from the time before this world,
When the darkness made me whole.
In this time I was fresh, pure
and complete in Creator’s perfection,
I was connected to Creator infinitely,
And only knew of myself through Creator’s creation
Of myself, I was happy.
Time shined anew,
This was when Creator brought me into the light, I remember it hurt, but it wasn’t why I cried.
This is how I met change.
I felt so important, so loved
As Creator gave me some, and just some,
Responsibility of myself.
The full responsibility given to me in this moment Was that of my people.
It was in a circle that Creator said could not be broken. In this moment I was complete,
The strength, the courage, the honor, the beauty, the pure love
In all integrity that I represent is me — niah’ah, I am my people,
This is the true vision of my eyes.
Time came to a bend and I was lost in new light, I watched this new light take my Traditional tongue from me. I saw this new light destroy my Traditional diet of everything
That made my Ancestors of old prefect and oh so beautiful, This new light was jealous and hateful.
How lifeless are the conquering for empathy still dangles From crucifixes and school houses
That hold up Western Civilization,
Powerful in its cruelty.
What have we become in this circle that cannot be broken?
And why have you left me so alone?
Why does my Heart carry you so,
When you care nothing of my existence?
Why does my life validate who you are,
when you are never present?
And why does my love for you make up everything
That is me, yet you refuse to acknowledge me?
Why won’t you love me?
Alone I sit unbrokken in the perfection of love, From a time before this world
Stricken in abandonment, I touch the circle alone,
I chew on the suffrage and walk on.
I am hated by the O’odham because I am O’odham, I am hated by Christ believers because I am Traditional, I am hated by society because I am the American Indian
Begging for change,
I am hated by the elite because I am the Native American in college, I am hated by congress because I am the Indigenous of this Great Land. And I am hated by America because I am the Sovereign Nation of a proud People, For I am my Ancestor.
So I will love you, understand my love must reach the next 7 Generations, Even if it must pass through You.
I am a product of survival, of resistance, of strength, of brilliance, That come from my People’s philosophies.
Given Us through the beauty of Ceremony,
Of customs derived from the Love of Creator.
The purity that is my People is the connection of all things.
I will see you again Je’e (mother),
I will see you again Ba’a (grandfather),
I will see you again Hu’u (grandmother),
I pray that I have honored you by then, I pray, Sa’po….
Writer bio
Ruben Cu:k Ba’ak is a Traditional Tohono O’odham Member, from Sells AZ. He has lived the American Indian dream, from a broken abusive home to violence & drug dealing to being locked in the system to changing his life around and walking his Redroad to a couple of degrees, and to a career serving his Nation. He has proven to himself and many others that change is possible. His passion is change and the progression & evolution of the Original Peoples before America, He has 15 and a half years drugs, alcohol and violence free and continues to help people struggling in addiction, alcoholism, violence, and toxic lifestyles to change and learn to live a better way. And he also writes a little poetry.
