Re: Reflections...
GONE ~~
>
>I wake in the morning to sounds of the Mother and to the warmth of
>the sun and leave my house where my fathers lodge once stood,
>Go to the car and drive down the paved road which my fathers traveled
>on horse back across the prairie,
>
>I cross the park and go past the tennis courts and baseball fields
>where my fathers once had winter camp and I climb the mountain, To
>the top to touch the sky,
>
>I light my pipe and blow smoke to the four winds and sit within the
>circle scratched in dirt.
>
>I look out upon the land below and see the houses turn to teepees and
>the cars to buffalo, the planes to eagles.
>
>I look upon the lake and see warriors in canoes instead of rushing
>speed boats. And then everything turns slowly back to the way it was.
>
>I see that the Mother still lives below us, and I wonder, have we not
>forgotten the land ?
>
>Do we not shun away from what the people have done to it? The mother
>still lives and we still belong to her.
>
>Many have forgotten the past and call it dead, but these things still
>live within my heart and my spirit. And the children, have we taught
>them to keep this in their hearts.
>
>Our people are not gone they are merely lost, they cannot find their
>path forward because they do not know where they have come from.
>
>I will cry no more for what has been lost, but will raise my peace
>pipe to the air and thank the Great Spirit for my vision. The way is
>forward.
>
>To teach the children all the wonderful things they have to be proud
>of.
>
>This nation, this United States would have no past, if it were not
>for my fathers, no stories of greatness, and no stories of sadness.
>
>These stories must be told and taught, but not with sadness, told
>with pride.
>
>I raise my fists to the air and thank the Great Spirit for bringing
>me to the People, for my victories and my defeats.
>
>I toss tobacco to the four winds and journey back down the paved
>roads with the four winds blowing through my windows...and truly I
>am "Home".
>
>The lands are not gone, the buffalo are not gone, the people are not
>gone.
>
>They live in my heart and my spirit, they will only be gone when we
>have forgotten them and have not passed those things on to our young.
>
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