Black Elk (1863-1950)--Oglala Sioux

The life of an Indian is like the wings of the air.
That is why you notice the hawk knows how to get his prey.
The Indian is like that. The hawk swoops down on its prey;
so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal.
For instance, the coyote is sly; so is the Indian.
The eagle is the same. That is why the Indian is always feathered up;
he is a relative to the wings of the air.

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux

I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now
from this high hill of my old age, I can still see
the butchered women and children lying heapen and scattered
all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them
with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died
there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard.
A peoples dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. . . .
the nations hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center
any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux

I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,
and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell
and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred
manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape
of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops
that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in
the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all children
of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy..
but anywhere is the center of the world.

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux


You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle,
and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,
and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a
strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred
hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken,
the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center
of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it.
The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth,
the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind
gave strength and endurance.

This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.
Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.
The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round
like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest
power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is
the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down
again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing,
and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man
is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything
where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds,
and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us
to hatch our children.

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux

Earth Prayer

Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth
and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first,
and you are older than all need, older than all prayer.
All things belong to you -- the two-legged, the four-legged,
the wings of the air, and all green things that live.

"You have set the powers of the four quarters of the earth
to cross each other. You have made me cross the good road
and road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place
is holy. Day in, day out, forevermore,
you are the life of things."

Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice.
At the center of the sacred hoop
You have said that I should make the tree to bloom.
With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather,
With running eyes I must say
The tree has never bloomed
Here I stand, and the tree is withered.
Again, I recall the great vision you gave me.
It may be that some little root of the sacred tree
still lives.
Nourish it then
That it may leaf
And bloom
And fill with singing birds!
Hear me, that the people may once again
Find the good road
And the shielding tree.

" I think I have told you, but if I have not,
you must have understood,
that a man who has a vision is not able to use
the power of it until after he has performed the vision
on earth for the people to see... It was even then only
after the heyoka ceremony, in which I performed
my dog vision, that I had the power to practice
as a medicine man, curing sick people; and many I cured
with the power that came through me. Of course it was not
I who cured. It was the power from the outer world,
and the visions and ceremonies had only made me
like a hole through which the power could come
to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself,
the hole would close up and no power could come through.
Then everything I could do would be foolish..."

Revealing this, they walk.
A sacred herb -- revealing it, they walk.
Revealing this, they walk.
The sacred life of bison -- revealing it, they walk.
Revealing this, they walk.
A sacred eagle feather -- revealing it, they walk.
Revealing this, they walk.
The eagle and the bison -- like relatives they walk.

"The Six Grandfathers have placed in this world many things,
all of which should be happy. Every little thing is sent for something,
and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy.
Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do,
for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World."

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux