Shards of Shale

My first piece on writing.com! Tell me what you think.

Speak! Speak!
The elders tell me,
while they loom above
in my misted recognition
of days long gone by.

I tell them I cannot,
it hurts too much,
my mouth packed with
shards of shale as
I bleed my sacred blood.

Tell Us!
I try to speak my truth,
yet my tongue is bleeding
cut and soiled,
as I spew my festering blood aground.

Now I speak no more.