The only gold George Custer and his troops
should have seen as they traipsed
through the Black Hills in 1874
wouldn't have been gold but the light blue
of the spring crocus
They might have convinced him
to throw out any prospectors of the hills
and given him incentive
not to fight anymore “Indians”
He would have announced
to a waiting world
“I found the crocus and nothing else”
Then there wouldn't have been any greed
any Mount Rushmore
tourists in their whale-sized RVs
nor motorcycles rumbling by the millions
passed Bear Butte
near an unfounded Fort Meade
no Sturgis or Deadwood
Hickock would have lived longer
No Rapid City or Ellsworth Air Force Base
No broken treaties
No reservations
My parents would not have met
and I wouldn't see any crocus
on my hike over
an unnamed Hangman's Hill
to an unbuilt Lincoln School
or take them home to Mom
by my little handfuls
Barry G. Wick
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