AMERICAN INDIAN POEMS
INDIAN NATION
We called them our brothers, our friends of love and light,
and then they stole our homes, like vultures in the night.
We taught them how to hunt and fish, and live from the land.
They treated us like enemies, we called them our friends.
They told us we had to leave our homes and find another place.
The land they gave us to live on, was filled with open space.
We had to leave behind, the only home we ever knew,
to go to the west, where nothing ever grew.
They told us we could live here, we could always stay,
but even as they said that, we had to move away.
Now we're scattered here and there, like pebbles on the sand,
so our white brothers could live upon this land!
A WARRIOR'S CONFESSION TO HIS FAIR MAIDEN
Oh, my love, how fair you are.
You are brighter than a night time star.
The wind sweeps your silken, wavy hair,
and your eyes are like drops of amber rare.
We climb upon a mountain high,
and watch the sun set in the sky.
Together we watch the stars above,
vowing our eternal love!
ODE TO THE LOST INDIAN NATION
You came to our land of milk and honey fair,
and tramped through our woods, as if we were not there.
You ignored all our pleas for peace, and marched us to and fro.
And now we are scattered here and there, with no place else to go.
You beat us like dogs, and expect us to bow down.
You made us hungry and weak, until we fell to the ground.
You took our daughters for wives, and made our nation weak.
You made cowards out of most, and now we are afraid to speak.
So now I humbly ask you, was it worth the fight,
to scourge our villages, and raid us through the night?
You thinned out our bloodlines, you thought you were so smart.
You may take the Indian from our blood, but never from our heart!
SOULS OF YESTERDAY
They still walk the plains, when the moon is high,
their ghostly figures walking by.
Wolves upon a high rock, with their frosted breath of air,
look out upon the poor souls, with their amber stare.
The cold plains full of snow, the weary band draws near,
silent is the night, but for the wailing cries you hear.
Marching onward they go, moving faraway,
soon they disappear, the souls of yesterday!
THE MEDICINE MAN (CALL OF THE WOLF)
On a cold moonlit night, with snow upon the ground,
majestic mountains standing tall, where no soul is found,
only the medicine man, with his palette round.
In the distance a hooting Owl, as he takes to flight,
or the faint Bobcat growl, as he vanishes from sight,
then silence, as the medicine man chants long into the night.
Suddenly a heart-felt cry, a wolf stands by the tree,
with his amber soulful eyes, appearing magically,
like a spirit, roaming wild and free.
WILD STAR
Out in the mountains, on the plains so drear,
where nothing lives except a few scattered deer.
In the night I wandered, though silence abound,
when suddenly I hear distant hooves on the ground.
Out of the misty darkness I see, as clear as the stars above,
a stallion running frantically, as white as the purest dove.
His eyes like wild fire, his nostrils shooting steam.
I stand as still as a statue and wonder if it's all a dream.
He's running and searching everywhere, for what I do not know.
What a beautiful sight he made, as he put on his dancing show.
Then out of the darkness I hear a voice from afar,
a gentle lovely female voice calling, come wild Star.
Then as if by magic his eyes turned warm with desire.
Then I wondered at the voice that put out that wild fire.
He ran in the distance and I heard her soft voice,
I saw them ride away and my heart did rejoice.
I remembered the legend I heard from my dad.
His grandpa had told him when he was a lad.
A long time ago, a young girl had walked the plains at night,
and out of the misty darkness, she saw a wonderful sight.
There was a young white stallion white as the driven snow.
He danced and pranced and put on a beautiful show.
She looked up at the sky above and called him from afar.
Her laughter was like springtime as she named him Wild Star.
Her hair was like the night, her eyes were dark and deep,
and she rode her stallion friend each night before sleep.
Then one night she never came and he began to wonder why.
He searched frantically for weeks, you could hear his desperate cry.
To her villiage man had come, and by night had made a raid,
bloody was the nice green grass where many warriors laid.
As a bullet ripped through her chest, a man heard her from afar,
"God please take me to rest and look out for Wild Star."
Wild Star came to the place where his mistress gentle lays.
He stayed there by her side for many weeks and days.
He wandered on the plains at night, but nothing was the same.
Finally he died there beside the girl who gave him his lovely name.
So now on the misty plains at night, you can see them still,
riding on her stallion, roaming the plains and hill.
And if the wind gently blows, you can hear from afar,
a gentle female voice calling, come Wild Star!
THE WAY THINGS WERE
Once upon a time there was a free land,
beauty rested upon it everywhere. There
were rivers of fresh clear water, where
Bears of every kind would fish and play.
There were Wolves with their mystic howl,
telling of ancient times and singing to the
moon. The trees would talk and whisper,
laughing with every breeze. The flowers in
the meadow lands were happy to peek their
heads to each fresh new day. And they would
be star struck every night with the moon's gentle
bright glow! The Buffalo would graze in the meadow
and laze around on a sunny day and listen to the songs
of the Meadow Lark as he happily cut across the grass
lands. The rains had their time to pour and the fruits and
nuts of every kind would grow. It was a vast and beautiful
place, where harmony abound. The ancient people there
would give thanks and prayers for their bountiful harvest.
They payed homage to all of nature just taking where they
should and leaving where they could. Nothing out of place.
The kids would play in the fields and leap with the gentle
Deer. For there wasn't yet that kind of fear between these
people and their brothers and sisters in nature. All of nature
had a gift and a message to send. From the wise old owl, the
snake that slithered along to every rock, tree and blade of grass.
Their ceremonies would make all the woodland creatures in awe.
Hearing the gentle yet deep beat of the drum to the chanting and
dancing of the two-legged kind. Then in the breath of time there
were those that came. They didn't pay homage to nature, they
polluted her rivers and creeks. They killed more of the four-legged
than was necessary and sometimes they did it just because.
Nature didn't understand and so she reacted by giving stings to
the Insects and Scorpions. And killer instincts to the four-legged
to surrive. She gave droughts and sometimes downpours when it
should not be. She wanted to gently scold. But they didn't listen.
Then things changed and fear was begotten into this beautiful land.
Beauty still exists within her. You just have to dig deeper to find it!
We must never give up hope and always love and remember in the
far reaches of our hearts, the way things were....And only can we
change it back again!
THE EARTH HAS BEAUTY
The Earth has beauty everywhere,
filled with magic in the air.
Just listen to the gentle wind,
that helps the weary soul to mend.
The Earth has beauty, if you have eyes,
just watch the majestic sun to rise.
Watch the twinkling stars at night,
guide the sleepless dreams in flight.
The Earth has beauty, listen well,
the babbling brook cast it's spell.
The lone wolf howls across the land,
and the deserts silence on pebbled sand.
The Earth has beauty, feel the call,
of the towering mountains tall.
In of a field of poppy flowers,
in a moment of springtime showers.
The Earth has beauty, just look within
for that is where it all begins.
Just look around and you will see,
the beauty is in you and me!
SNAKE DANCE
Your hypnotic eyes put me in a trance,
igniting a fire as we dance.
Dancing away I feel no control
You can see through my soul.
Your golden eyes stare into mine.
The mystery we share from an ancient time.
You call me to my destiny.
A perfect union yet to be!
DREAM CATCHER
Catcher of dreams and weaver of light,
keeping me safe all through the night.
Guiding my dreams as my soul flies above,
in innocence I sleep all wrapped up in love.
Protection you give, the nightmares can't stay.
Whenever they come you chase them away.
Catcher of dreams, and protector of night,
chaser of nightmares, and keeper of light.
There is a legend, perhaps even truth, of these four Ayer brothers and four sisters. How they came through this window and became the first Children of the Sun! Here is a poem I wrote about them! The sacred river spoken in this poem is the river Vilcanota that runs through Peru in the sacred Inca Valley. A real river that was said to mirror the sacred river in the sky that we call the Milky Way!
FIRST SACRED SEEDS OF LIGHT
There is a river
A river like no other
Running through Earth Mother
A Sacred, Sacred river.
They came from the House of Dawn
They emerged through Earth Mother
These four sisters and four brothers
The first Sacred seeds of Light!