PRINCESS KENNEBECCA – lived on Sowangen, at the riverside of Queen Kennebecca
Visitors once stood in awe
on her mossy banks
where the wild rice grows.
Viking explorers and Merchant Adventurers
seeking improved trade routes,
sailed next to prisoners eager to
renew lives in a wild country, beside
slaves traveling the underground railroad,
each riding quietly upriver
via Queen Kennebecca,
en route to Canada.
Queen Kennebecca, a lifetime supporter
of worldwide trade between Abenaki Chiefs
adorned in beads and feathers,
during fiery sunrises or sunsets
along her riverbanks in Maine,
or merchants arriving from a continent away.
Toasting with cocktails brimming with
ice-cubes gleaned from Queen Kennebecca’s
pristine waters, European ladies
fondled iridescent beads fashioned
from shells by Abenaki maidens
across the ocean in New England.
Ladies on Swan Island in Maine, residing
along Queen Kennebecca’s shores
drank French wine
from Italian crystal goblets
at tables set with Irish linen,
dined from English silverware,
enjoying exotic spice dishes from India
served on Chinese porcelain,
by young maidservants
from Chad or Bermuda.
Mesmerizing scores, the ageless Queen
spans hundreds of years
across thousands of piers.
Her commanding presence continues
to flow smoothly linking people,
cities, merchants, and products
emerging from the deepest forests
of Maine, touching continents
across the sea and back.
King Pines marked with a broad arrow,
harvested from the Queen’s shores,
sold downriver as sturdy masts
on great sailing ships, or destined for
building mills, churches, and new homes.
Native baskets of sassafras,
hops, herbs, and wild berries
overflowing, shipped on to London.
Cod and sturgeon salted,
drying on flakes in the sun,
wheat milled, game hunted,
mink and beaver trapped,
traded in ports across the sea.
Queen Kennebecca offers abundance,
uniting people, continents, countries,
her compassion as fathomless as
the depth of a mother’s love.