Mitakuye Oyasin - To all My Relations
This poem goes out
To all my relations - future and past
The grandmothers I knew, and those I did not,
The grandchildren i can feel, but have not yet
seen
You remember the clear water flowing
near your camp, your village,
under the good dirt of your gardens
Springing from the rock of the earth
where water is kept safe and sweet
My grandchildren, you deserve
this sweet water
You, who will come near the end of my own life
and gather your own present to yourselves
You deserve good dirt, untainted by chemicals unwisely spread in ignorance and haste
You deserve good air to breath
rain washed, sun warmed, like
the elixir of love to inhale
you deserve
space on this planet, the space for a home
a garden, the look at trees and mountains,
birds singing when the light changes.
How can I give these things, store these gifts,
wish these life things
For all my relations?
