Planting the Tree
The maidens arrayed in a row
Display pipestone hands
Red as the good earth
Making up the land.
The first receives the axe.
I kill so others may live.
The steel head bites.
The tree continues to live.
One by one the all strike
Reverently tolling the cry.
Aspen chips litter the ground
As the tree begins to die.
One by one we are painted
Each carrying a blessing
To give the Revered One
With the steel caressing.
The flash goes deep into you.
I hear the cry, feel your pain,
And your determination
For our People.
Others come after me.
The pipestone dries on my skin.
Inside I cry for your beauty
Singing softly again.
Though you fall you are caught
Lifted up on high.
Carried like a cherished babe
Beneath the bluest sky.
Transported far away
I greet you once more.
Buffalo Girls give you food
To nourish your core.
The women tie in your branches
Festoons of prayers so bright.
The cloth gleams as you rise
Joyously in the light.
Carefully the men plant you
Deep into the ground
Thus our shared dance has begun
Around this Sacred Round.
August 23, 2006