Shoshone Love Song


Fair is the white star of twilight,
and the sky clearer at the day's end;
But she is fairer, and she is dearer.
She, my heart's friend!

Far stars and fair in the skies bending,
Low stars of hearth fires and wood smoke ascending,
The meadow-lark's nested,
The night hawk is winging;
Home through the star-shine the hunter comes singing.

Fair is the white star of twilight,
And the moon roving
To the sky's end;
But she is fairer, better worth loving,
She, my heart's friend.

and why you shall be as first, as your love for others to be as first is readily apparent..........

the day and time of this passing thru no human control, but is set into the stone tablets of the book of ones own life, before ever arriving here to live out ones own book in living mortal deed and word........

written LIVING epistles or chapters of the greater ETERNAL book containing the essence of all as one.......

this speaks for itself

The Children of Moonbow Falls
God! Where should I start?
It's so very sad - and quite ironic -
That a whiteman sits here
To write this sonnet

About the Indian children at "Ywahoo Falls"
Raped and hacked to death
Chopped to pieces - and then left
At the bottom of the cliff

They were waiting there for sanctuary
To be taken to a Christian School
But they were cornered - and once caught
Indian fighters killed them - all for sport

Lead by Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory
A Franklinite out of Tennessee
Who killed all Indians he could find
And the U.S. Government didn't mind

Gregory's men had sanctioned approval
From the Governor - and the U.S. War Dept.
They signed away the life - of the Cherokee
And in return for scalps - they got a fee

Trapped at "Moonbow Falls" with no way out
One hundred little ones died in the rout
They died with "Standing Fern" that dreadful day
Some just babies -too small to run away

They killed the children and their mothers
And even cut pregnant women open
They planned that nothing alive would remain
These hateful men must have been insane

Oh! Where was "Ywhaoo" or "Spirit Rider?"
"Time Untime" it seems had gone away
As baby after baby died in and mud
And the holy river ran with blood

"Cornblossom" with her "Thunderbolt Braves"
Arrived too late - to save the day
And when she looked upon the bloody scene
She screamed a scream that's still heard today

"Ani-Yun-Wia" pride had been defiled that day
As "Cornblossom" charged into the bloody fray
Killing Gregory's men - who were still there
But the pain and suffering was too much to bear

After killing every white man that she saw
She turned her face to heavens door
The massacre of husband, son, and daughter-in-law
Tore her apart and left her insides raw

And for the two days that it took for her to die
She clenched her fists and chanted at the sky
Her grief eventually took her earthly life
But to say the story ends here - would not be right

It's said at full moon she still comes to "Ywahoo"
And her voice can be heard resonant in the falls
As her spirit is resurrected there in hallowed light
And she calls the World to put things right

And true believers can hear her say
"Remember my children" in a soft and mournful way
And as her spirit gestures amidst the mist and wet
"Remember My People -We're not conquered yet"

© Albert Gazeley, 2003

Thank you. I'm crying here, as I feel his pain. He lives alone with his "fur family"...loves them more than life itself.

I'm in NY and he's in Texas..and I can't reach him by phone and feel so helpless.

I'm copying as much as I can..he is also not strong, as he needs heart surgery.

This is such a tragedy, and yet I try to remain positive and "invision" his wolf AND he healthy and at home together again.

Thank you, again...I'll come back later. I really appreciate this.

Sken:non

Donna

The Cry of The Native American
We were here first
(i-gv-ya o-gi-lu-tsv a-ha-ni)
Maybe the Cherokee cry
But we wanted their land
So they had to die

How could their rights

Have been explained?

The bow and arrow -

Against the gun ordained?

We took their homes -

(Do-ge-nv-sv do-ge-gi-gi-e-lv)

They were mostly dead - when the deeds were done

What was theirs is ours - Yes! we have won

They had to die - we had no choice

Their punishment for owning - our land first

The Indians had been the custodians of the land.

(a-ni-yv-wi-ya o-s-da i-yu-nv-na-de-ga ga-do-hi)

But the cowboy turned the pastures into sand

And buffalo herds - very soon were damned

Sustainability was more the Indians way

a-ni-yv-wi-ya u-nv-sv a-na-li-s-de-li-s-gv.

But luxury to excess was more our "cup of tea"

We brought the Indians smallpox, pollution and T.B.

After two Hundred years we now see our wrongs

And we begin to listen to the Indian Songs

na-quu-no a-nv-da-di-s-do-di-quu i-ga

di-ga-ka-no-gi-s-do-di a-le i-ga-da

da-ni-na-s-da-tli tsu-na-ni-gi-da.

But sadly most of their tribes are gone

Now in the souvenir shops throughout the U.S.A

Indian proverbs are on display

Pictures of Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph

Are sort by tourist looking for proverbs and Indian motifs

Sayings of American Presidents are not bought

But Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux is eagerly sought

Why do we see the wisdom - yet our ancestors couldn't?

Or is it that they could - but wouldn't

The American Indians say

"There is one God looking down on us all"

(sa-quu u-ne-la-nv-hi)

Has the Native American salvation come at last

And will the "Great One" now be just.

Albert Gazeley © 2003

As quietly as little rabbit's feet,
The morning glory sun arrives to greet
The Red Man as he worships in his way.
For this he asks the Spirit every day;
Before I judge my friend, O let me wear
His moccasins for two long weeks, and share
The path that he would take in wearing them;
Then, I shall understand and not condemn.

True Path Walkers
Obligations of the True Path Walkers
To bring back the natural harmony that humans once enjoyed.
To save the planet from present practices of destruction.
To find and re-employ real truth.
To promote true balance between both genders.
To share and be less materialistic.
To become rid of prejudice.
To learn to be related.

To be kind to animals and take no more than we need.
To play with one's children and love each equally and fairly.
To be brave and courageous, enough so,
to take a stand and make a commitment.
To understand what Generations Unborn really means.
To accept the Great Mystery
in order to end foolish argument over religion.

Two Tongues


American History is at times embellished
Consequently it's sometimes wrongly cherished
John Wayne simply portrayed the Hollywood view
He fought make-believe battles all life through
From the Alamo - to World War II

But it is in the Native American domain
That myth is portrayed to be most profane
The Indian brave is blatantly misrepresented
Truth was bent to the advantage of Daniel Boone
So much of history is still cocooned

For American Aboriginals had hearts and souls
With family pride and sacred goals
A grace and pride that reaches back in time
"Wakan Tankan Nici Un" in Cherokee
Means - May the Great Spirit walk with thee

Geronimo went on to say
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi
nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi"
"May the Great Spirit always give you blessings"
Hardly the chant of a crazed assassin

They believed in one God
With the philosophy - that was clearly stated
"Ho! Mitakuye Oyasin" "We Are All Related -
our Earthly meeting is surly fated"

For after all is said and done
"Under the sky - all living things are one"
Yes - Geronimo - of Apache fame
Said "God meant us all to be the same" -

"There is one God looking down on all"
This Apache Chief - was no ones fool
But soldiers killed his wife - and then his child
It's little wonder he went wild

Yes, when the white man came, there was a rout
Because they tried to wipe his people out
It's no wonder he suddenly went insane
And he attacked and burnt the wagon trains

So if Indians speak of peace and Love
And worship just one God above
Has Hollywood got its' philosophy right?
Were all Indians only born to fight?

Is popular history out of stride
As it seems to take the white mans side
Has the Indian been properly portrayed
Or have Indian virtues been betrayed

When foreigners first arrived from their voyage
Tired, starving and overwrought
Indians came forth, not to fight
but helped the white man in his plight

They came out of the forest to share their food -
This resulting in a festive mood
And it is written that there was enough for all
At the first "Thanks Giving" in that fall

But soon contentment turned to greed
As the white man began to spread his seed
Plunder and rape became the white man's way
The Indians really had no say

Gold prospecting and gambling . . .
Liquor and undue land claims
For the Indians there was no safe haven
And the teepees all went up in flames

When pioneers began to take Indian land
Their blood soon stained the sun-bleached sand
The soldiers were sent to put things right
But they only helped - if you were white

And few white men of the time
Had "walked a mile in native shoes"
To understand what he'd been through
And appreciate his point of view -

And the American Government of the day
Aided and abetted all the way-
And for the lowly Indian - which they helped maim
They shunned the blame - quickly rejecting the Redman's claim

So soldiers help the pioneer
And soon the official policy was clear
It was take, take, take - without any giving
And they did their best to stop the Redman living

Yet the Indians really lived as one with nature
Never cut green branches with a knife
Kill only to eat and use dead wood for cooking
All living things are a part of life

Whilst the white man cut the forests and polluted the air
For a balanced nature they did not care
The Indians had been the custodians of the land
But conversely - the white man didn't give a damn

In the Indian Wars Geronimo proclaimed
"We are all children of one God -
The Great Spirit cannot think we are no use
He would not have created us simply for abuse"

There is an Indian creed which believes
Ever present in the Sun, the darkness, and the wind,
God is listening to what we say.
That's Indian thinking and the Indian way

"When you were born - You cried - And the World rejoiced -
Then live your life in such a way
That when you die - nothing is remiss
And - The World will cry - Whilst you feel bliss"

A hundred plus tribes used to ride the plains
All with a simple philosophy lived in their veins
In tune with nature - like yin and yang
And one Great Spirit whose praise they sang

There was Buffalo, water, grass for feed
There was nothing more for them to need
Fresh air, forests, mountains and no pollution
To live with nature was their solution

Shawnee, Chippewa Mohawk Navajo Cherokee
All poetic - free spirit names are these
Choctaw, Iowa, Sioux Skakopee Shakopee
All very soon lost their liberty

Crow, Cheyenne, and then Blackfeet
Had no choice but to retreat
Now memories living in mournful songs
But sadly many of these tribes are gone

But stories of the Lakota at "Broken Knee "
Can never be ignored or washed away
And the Cherokee on the "Trail of Tears"
Are still remembered - after all these years

The Native American - were openly abused
because Washington could not afford to lose
The Shoshone, Arapaho and then Apache
Were shoot against the wall heralded by the U.S. bugle call

Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa
As the list goes on it gets hard to see -
Through the river of tears
That is Native American History

Pawnee, Wichita, Navajo
How could the invaders sink so low
Black Elk the Sioux Holy Man lamented
For him the circle of life had been all that mattered

And this spiritual man proclaimed
that Indian Nations hoop was broken
and its people scattered

He said "our dead never would forget
The beautiful world that gave them being."
"The rivers, the mountains, the lakes and bays
That the white man came to take away -

"And when the last Red Man has perished
and the memory of my people becomes . . .
just myth portrayed in the white mans lies
These shores will throng
with the invisible dead of my tribe..."

But truth will win out - and its no myth
that Elk expressed and here described
First in Indian dance, then documentation
He has made indelible the history of his proud nation

Ironically when Lieutenant Custer disobeyed his orders
And attacked instead of favoring peace
And sealed the fate of the Indian race
He made "The Little Big Horn" his last disaster

Outnumbered by the combined Indian Nation
Bent on revenge for the many Indian deaths
And protecting the tens of thousands in their camp
Two Thousand plus warriors came from every side

There was no stopping Crazy Horse and Chief Hunkapa
Leading the Cheyenne, plus Sans Arcs, Miniconjoux
Oglala Sioux, Blackfeet and the Sioux,
It took twenty minutes to annihilate "Yellow Hairs" Cavalry

Reno and Benteen arrived far too late
Finally sealing Custer fate -
But this massacre took away all sympathy
And Custer's Ghost got revenge at "Wounded Knee"

The Politicians plans for peace - took on a frown
And orders came to hunt the Indian down
Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull - and White Feather
All names that will surely live forever

All part of history of which they can be proud
But better you don't speak too loud
For the invisible dead are not far away
And ghosts might come to have their say

On yesteryear's stories of -
"The American Way"

^^ One of my favorites and lift it up in prayer for myself and others often.

Now, one that is so very simple, but OH SO TRUE!

CHEROKEE PRAYER

"Creator gave you two ears...
and one mouth...
so you can listen,
twice as much,
as you speak."

Tecumseh
When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light,
give thanks for your food
and the joy of living

If you see no reason for giving thanks,
the fault lies in yourself.

INDIAN WISDOMS:


Chief Aupumut - Mohican
When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

Chief Aupumut - Mohican

Chief Dan George
"How long have I known you, oh Canada? A hundred years? Yes, a hundred years. And many many 'seelanum" more. And today, when you celebrate your hundred years, oh Canada, I am sad for all the Indian people throughout the land.

For I have known you when your forests were mine; when they gave me my meat and my clothing. I have known you in your streams and rivers where your fish flashed and danced in the sun, where the waters said come, come and eat of my abundance. I have known you in the freedom of your winds. And my spirit, like the winds, once roamed your good lands.

But in the long hundred years since the white man came, I have seen my freedom disappear like the salmon going mysteriously out to sea. The white man's strange customs which I could not understand, pressed down upon me until I could no longer breathe.

When I fought to protect my land and my home, I was called a savage. When I neither understood nor welcomed this way of life, I was called lazy. When I tried to rule my people, I was stripped of my authority.

My nation was ignored in your history textbooks - they were little more important in the history of Canada than the buffalo that ranged the plains. I was ridiculed in your plays and motion pictures, when I drank your fire water, I got drunk -- very, very drunk. And I forgot.

Oh Canada, how can I celebrate with you this Centenary, this hundred years? Shall I thank you for the reserves that are left to me of my beautiful forests? For the canned fish of my rivers? For the loss of my pride and authority, even among my own people? For the lack of my will to fight back? No! I must forget what's past and gone.

Oh, God in Heaven! Give me back the courage of the olden Chiefs. Let me wrestle with my surroundings. Let me again, as in the days of old, dominate my environment. Let me humbly accept this new culture and through it rise up and go on.

Oh, God! Like the Thunderbird of old I shall rise again out of the sea; I shall grab the instruments of the white man's success---his education, his skills, and with these new tools I shall build my race into the proudest segment of your society. Before I follow the great Chiefs who have gone before us, oh Canada, I shall see these things come to pass.

I shall see our young braves and our chiefs sitting in the houses of law and government, ruling and being ruled by the knowledge and freedom of our great land. So shall we shatter the barriers of our isolation. So shall the next hundred years be the greatest and proudest in the proud history of our tribes and nations."

Chief Dan George

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
The rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away, they speak to me
And my heart soars.

Chief Dan George

The Wolf Ceremony
I wanted to give something of my past to my grandson. So I took him into the woods, to a quiet spot. Seated at my feet he listened as I told him of the powers that were given to each creature. He moved not a muscle as I explained how the woods had always provided us with food, homes, comfort, and religion.

He was awed when I related to him how the wolf became our guardian, and when I told him that I would sing the sacred wolf song over him, he was overjoyed.

In my song, I appealed to the wolf to come and preside over us while I would perform the wolf ceremony so that the bondage between my grandson and the wolf would be lifelong.

I sang.
In my voice was the hope that clings to every heartbeat.

I sang.
In my words were the powers I inherited from my forefathers.

I sang.
In my cupped hands lay a spruce seed-- the link to creation.

I sang.
In my eyes sparkled love. I sang.

And the song floated on the sun's rays from tree to tree.

When I had ended, it was if the whole world listened with us to hear the wolf's reply. We waited a long time but none came. Again I sang, humbly but as invitingly as I could, until my throat ached and my voice gave out.

All of a sudden I realized why no wolves had heard my sacred song. There were none left! My heart filled with tears. I could no longer give my grandson faith in the past, our past.

At last I could whisper to him: "It is finished!" "Can I go home now?" He asked, checking his watch to see if he would still be in time to catch his favorite program on TV. I watched him disappear and wept in silence. All is finished!

by Chief Dan George
Chief of the Salish Band in Burrard Inlet, B.C.

The first white men of your people who came to our country were named Lewis and Clark. They brought many things which our people had never seen. They talked straight and our people gave them a great feast as proof that their hearts were friendly. They made presents to our chiefs and our people made presents to them. We had a great many horses of which we gave them what they needed, and they gave us guns and tobacco in return. All the Nez Perce made friends with Lewis and Clark and agreed to let them pass through their country and never to make war on white men. This promise the Nez Perce have never broken.

Chief Joseph - Nez Perce

For a short time we lived quietly. But this could not last. White men had found gold in the mountains around the land of the Winding Water. They stole a great many horses from us and we could not get them back because we were Indians. The white men told lies for each other. They drove off a great many of our cattle. Some white men branded our young cattle so they could claim them. We had no friends who would plead our cause before the law councils. It seemed to me that some of the white men in Wallowa were doing these things on purpose to get up a war. They knew we were not strong enough to fight them. I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed. We gave up some of our country to the white men, thinking that then we could have peace. We were mistaken. The white men would not let us alone. We could have avenged our wrongs many times, but we did not. Whenever the Government has asked for help against other Indians we have never refused. When the white men were few and we were strong we could have killed them off, but the Nez Perce wishes to live at peace.

On account of the treaty made by the other bands of the Nez Perce the white man claimed my lands. We were troubled with white men crowding over the line. Some of them were good men, and we lived on peaceful terms with them, but they were not all good. Nearly every year the agent came over from Lapwai and ordered us to the reservation. We always replied that we were satisfied to live in Wallowa. We were careful to refuse the presents or annuities which he offered.

Through all the years since the white man came to Wallowa we have been threatened and taunted by them and the treaty Nez Perce. They have given us no rest. We have had a few good friends among the white men, and they have always advised my people to bear these taunts without fighting. Our young men are quick tempered and I have had great trouble in keeping them from doing rash things. I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy. I learned then that we were but few while the white men were many, and that we could not hold our own with them. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears. We had a small country. Their country was large. We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not; and would change the mountains and rivers if they did not suit them.

Chief Joseph - Nez Perce

At his surrender in the Bear Paw Mountains, 1877
Tell General Howard that I know his heart. What he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead, Tu-hul-hil-sote is dead. the old men are all dead. It is the young men who now say yes or no. He who led the young men [Joseph's brother Alikut] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people -- some of them have run away to the hills and have no blankets and no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more against the white man.

Chief Joseph - Nez Perce

On a visit to Washington, D.C., 1879


At last I was granted permission to come to Washington and bring my friend Yellow Bull and our interpreter with me. I am glad I came. I have shaken hands with a good many friends, but there are some things I want to know which no one seems able to explain. I cannot understand how the Government sends a man out to fight us, as it did General Miles, and then breaks his word. Such a government has something wrong about it. I cannot understand why so many chiefs are allowed to talk so many different ways, and promise so many different things. I have seen the Great Father Chief [President Hayes]; the Next Great Chief [Secretary of the Interior]; the Commissioner Chief; the Law Chief; and many other law chiefs [Congressmen] and they all say they are my friends, and that I shall have justice, but while all their mouths talk right I do not understand why nothing is done for my people. I have heard talk and talk but nothing is done. Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father's grave. They do not pay for my horses and cattle. Good words do not give me back my children. Good words will not make good the promise of your war chief, General Miles. Good words will not give my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. Too many misinterpretations have been made; too many misunderstandings have come up between the white men and the Indians. If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect all rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the Great White Chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.

I only ask of the Government to be treated as all other men are treated. If I cannot go to my own home, let me have a home in a country where my people will not die so fast. I would like to go to Bitter Root Valley. There my people would be happy; where they are now they are dying. Three have died since I left my camp to come to Washington.

When I think of our condition, my heart is heavy. I see men of my own race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals.

I know that my race must change. We cannot hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. If an Indian breaks the law, punish him by the law. If a white man breaks the law, punish him also.

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself -- and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.

Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars. We shall be all alike -- brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying. I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.

Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekht has spoken for his people.

Chief Joseph - Nez Perce

Suppose a white man should come to me and say, "Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them."

I say to him, "No, my horses suit me; I will not sell them."

Then he goes to my neighbor and says to him, "Joseph has some good horses, I want to buy them, but he refuses to sell."

My neighbor answers, "Pay me the money and I will sell Joseph's horses."

The white man returns to me as says, "Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them."

If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them.

Chief Joseph - Nez Perce

We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel with God, as the Catholic and Protestants do. We do not want to learn that.

We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on earth. But we never quarrel about God. We do want to learn that.

Chief Joseph - Nez Perce