Descendants of the Star People
By Lynne M. Colombe
Smoke chases the light
Like lingering prayers
Of the gypsies before us
Hunters, akicita
Succorers of their
Heritage in 2020
Pte Oyate
Much now is forgotten
Wolakota
Tipi poles of resistance
Lie unceremoniously
On treaty lands
Visual reminders
Displacement
Conceptions brought to us
From foreign lands
When they gave us a Bible
Put my grandmother in
A starched frock and apron
Forcing Grandfather
To become a Catechist
To unsuccessfully save her
Father, Daughter, Holy Ghost
The 7th Generation
Knows nothing but war
Fighting shadows of
Indian Boarding Schools
Rights to our own children
Our own bodies
Our own lives
Our right to speak
Mni Wiconi
Four directions scattered
Wi Can
Our brightest stars
Waziya Takiya
This New World of
Discord and experiences
We should not see
We should not hear
Oyate-ki effie onĆŗniyata ĆŗÅ
Have pity on us all,
Wakan Takan
We all return one day
To the Star World
Wanim
We are our estrangement
Guided by the ancestral
Cangleska Wakan
Pathways in the south
Warm, amiable
Solitude, peace, respite
Call to me to live as
A nomadic Lakota
Smoke chases light
This is gorgeous, you are an incredible writer
ReplyDelete