Repatriation

 If, pursuant to section 5, the cultural affiliation of Native American human remains and associated funerary objects with a particular Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization is established, then the Federal agency or museum, upon the request of a known lineal descendant of the Native American or of the tribe or organization and pursuant to subsections (b) and (e) of this section, shall expeditiously return such remains and associated funerary objects.

Sun-bleached bone

and sticks wrapped with the skins

in which we loved them. Or nestled

and charred by the broken hearth,

clutching the wing of a swan

to ward spirits. Or

worm-wood, beech-wood,

cherry oak, pine

slatted and nailed

neatly under six feet or in hard times

even stacked above one another

so that the bodies collapse

like floors of ruined buildings, sighing

into the coffins below. Or

piled, piled,

piled, piled, piled, piled,

nameless, done in,

piled, piled, piled,

piled, buried over quickly

in the night.

Or in personal collections,

in trophy cases, or in pieces, piled,

catalogued and inked with the smallest

numbers along the cranial spline. Or

packed amid boxes in the basement

of the Longhouse Museum,

until proper funding can be acquired

for a proper display. Red-taped and returned,

gathering dust, far from

the longhouses you knew.