With Gratitude and Responsibility©️🙏🏞️ by Felina Silver (Copyright 2025)

Today, I pause to honor the land🌸
the land cared for by the first peoples,
whose footsteps, songs, and stories
still live beneath our own.

I am grateful for their tending🌸
for the ways they shaped and protected
what continues to sustain us.
Even after so much was taken,
they share with grace
what was once entirely theirs.

Though my own Indigenous heritage
was not something I grew up knowing,
I feel its quiet pull🌸
a reminder of what was lost,
and of what still calls to be restored.

I may not carry the full weight
of their injustices in my own memory,
but I carry the responsibility
to see them, to name them,
and to help others understand
what still needs to be made right.

I want to be part of healing🌸
teaching, listening,
and finding ways to repair
what history tried to erase.

Today, I honor those who came before,
and those who continue to lead with love.
May we all learn to walk
with respect, humility, and care🌸
as guests, as learners,
as stewards of the land
and of one another.