Medicinals

I was walking through the National Mall
Thinking about medicinals, how they used to grow there
When the ground was a marshland
Undisturbed by human hands, and I heard their voices:
The Sumac said «We're always here»
The Witch Hazel — «We're always here»
Sassafras — «We're always here»
The bluestem grasses always here
I looked about, and what did I see?
Medicinals grow around me, rising from the gravel
Sumac and the Witch Hazel
Come to soothe our pain ourselves, come to soothe our troubles
The Sumac said «We're always here»
The Witch Hazel — «We're always here»
Sassafras — «We're always here»
Bluestem grass is always here
But do you see that woman, sitting in the wheelchair?
With her Redskins cap on backwards
What’s that she’s singing?
As from inside a paper wrapper
She sips from a bottle
A new painkiller
For the native people