Name yourself the Lakota way
see how
streams reflecting sunlight
run in your veins,
stars shine
on your brow.
Go to the forest the Lakota way.
hear roots
whisper wordless
under the the soft-handed canopy
holding you as you
sleep.
Know this boulder the Lakota way
and you will understand
something solid
Is not
but glows and glitters
with light
like your bones
like boulders,
that by constant motion joined,
speak your name.
Even if you aren’t a believer
your feet have faith
in the earth
your lungs are believers
in the air
your thirst trusts
in the water.
We are held,
nourished
with no effort of our own.
What other love gives so freely?
This is holiness
being crucified
by those who
once again
know not
what they do.
This morning
ten ducklings scurried next to their mother
on the grass bank of Tinney Creek.
It’s the time of year for births at the creek
and on the wheel of birth’s
death for all but a few of the ducklings.
Helpless I watched
hoping the crow’s kill was quick
hoping the duckling felt only soft grass and sky
Being human this seems a loss to us
until we arrive at the meal.
This evening in a restaurant a person will order duck
for their dinner.
Talons or forks
the same but
One is choiceless, the other chooses.
For feathers or skin
made of ducks and ducklings
we ought bow in gratitude
or regret.
That Got Me Thinking...Featuring Einstein, Buddha, Gus, et al 