"A Cold Wind Blew Across the Prairie When the Last Buffalo Fell...
A Death-Wind For Our People..."
Indian blood is like gold,
no matter how thinly it is stretched,
it shines just as brightly.
May the Great Spirit bless all who enter there
May your mocassins Make happy tracks In many snows,
And may the rainbow Always touch your shoulder"
Sometimes they were people and sometimes animals and there was no difference. All spoke the same language."
"Left to her own devices,
Nature maintains a perfect balance."
Let me walk in beauty,
and make my eyes ever behold the red purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things You have taught my people,
Let me learn the lessons You have hidden in every leaf and rock,
I seek strength not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.
Make me always ready to come to You with clean hands and straight eyes,
So when life fades,as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.
It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
and if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own.
Without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own,
if you can dance with the wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,
If you can hear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when its not pretty every day,
and if you can source your life from God's presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you are, how you come to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments