Whisper n Thunder

The Whisper of Native American stories, the Thunder of stories that demand to be told.

Poetry n Prose 5

The Spirit Within

...To you who would choose to take your life rather than endure it's hardships, embrace the wisdom of your elders and know the Great Spirit is with you always..

I am in the cries of my mother
Whose child was lost
Who no longer knows her own flesh
Lying so still, so quiet, so cold

I am in the salt of my father’s tears
Stinging his wounds when he remembers my name
Despair drowning his pride
In the oblivion of bottled hope

I am in the silent vagrant’s eyes
The torment reflected in those darkened mirrors
Whose ragged clothes betray the jutting bones of my ancestors
Piercing the sky, bleached white over centuries
Beneath the invader’s sun

I am in the venom of empty words
Stolen lives
In the murdered promises
The unmarked graves of our innocence
The eternal grieving over a child’s empty bed

I am in all these things
Yet they will not break me
And see the day I forget to dance
Or feel the touch of my Creator

I am in the forest
The river, the desert and the Great Plain
I feel the thunder of the buffalo at my feet
Here on this mountain top
With the soil of my homeland in my hands

I am in the wings of the soaring eagle
The heart of the bear and the wolf
My feet deep-rooted in Mother Earth
Hands touching the sky

I am in the dreams of my Elders
Their songs are my strength
And the light from their fire
Reveals the path I will follow

We are the sons and the daughters of our Mother
Grandchildren of our blessed ancestors
Our story is in the wind
And when it blows
We shall still be heard.

~ Anonymous

Spirit Love

As the shadows fall upon yon land
and all is lit in only mind
a fire is burning
deep within
a soul of flames forever more
entwined betwixt both life
and death
Shall come to life
when only two
in love are left...

~ Sherry SnowClouds

Through the Storm

Headed to Petaluma in

A windy torrent of rain

In traffic thick as honey

Racing on Highway 12

The hills are draped

In glowing greens

The sky without

A patch of blue

The wind slaps

Hard the trees

Splashing brown and

Golden leaves

It was a good day

To get away

Driving through the land

Of the Miwok and Ohlone

Only you can’t tell

They survived

~ Manny Moreno

WHY?

"Why do you feel with your mind instead of your heart?"
I heard the sound of my spirit cry within me.

I replied, "My heart is lost, broken, it cannot be set free."

"I tried to be everything to everyone, but instead my one became three."

The way was clear at the beginning and I rejoiced in the simplicity.
The feelings of need soon became too blurred; it was seeing the sun through an obstructing tree.
I knew the differences when I began.
All the energies, all the avenues I ran.

I knew the choices of what it was meant to be
After giving all of myself, I thought, "if I fall, who will catch me?"

I reasoned, I resolved.
"IF not me, who else will get involved?"

I withdrew to perceptions unlimited and a mindless trait
Reasoning truthfully with priorities straight.
I decided to try one more time
This life is too fleeting to wait for the end of the line.
I placed my weary step in front of another
Tentative reaching then the sound of thunder.

"You who have given so much in this life
Each good deed riven in strife
One step closer to heaven you shall be
Never alone, never alone, I will always catch thee.

~ John Three Fingers

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