A poem for Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, known as a Crown Jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System. If any funding for a border wall is approved by Congress, Santa Ana is the Trump administration's first target. The text of the poem is as follows:
Ay Santa Ana
They call you a crown jewel of wildlife refuges.
A crown jewel
Last of your kind
Mournful emerald
Aged and alone
In a world of colorless new
In a world of dust and wire.
A crown jewel
Value defying measure
Last hope for refugees
Whose silver wings sing sapphire memory
Into a land of pale forgottenness
Into a land of angry noise.
Ay Santa Ana,
Will they learn to see you
Before the earth movers come?
Will they feel the breath of the deep forest earth?
Will they soar with green jay through swaying Spanish moss?
Can they feel
Before the cold steel rises?
Will they hear the wingbeats of butterfly floating?
Will they hear
Before it’s too late?
Ay Santa Ana
For more information about the imperiled borderlands, visit Embattled Borderlands: storymaps.esri.com/stories/2017/embattled-borderlands/index.html
Please share this film with your friends and family, with your members of Congress. Pick up the phone and tell your Congressional representatives: the border is not a bargaining chip. The Dreamers must be saved from exile from the only home they have ever known, and the borderlands must be protected from border walls, fences and militarization. #noborderwall #saveSantaAna #cleanDreamAct #aysantaana.
The number for the Congressional switchboard is: 202-224-3121
The 75th anniversary of Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is January 27. Many hundreds of people will be journeying to South Texas for a special rally for this endangered landscape. Santa Ana needs our help. If you can join us, here is some information about the event: facebook.com/events/419603675122981/ . If you cannot travel to South Texas, please take some action for Santa Ana the week of January 27.
