How Old Are You?

How Old Are You?

I have passed through many days
and traveled a long way,
the shadows have fallen
all about me and I
can see but dimly.

But my mind is clear
and my memory has not failed me.
I cannot count the years I have lived.

All that I know about my age
is that I was old enough
to draw the bow and kill squirrels
at the time of the second emigration
of the Creeks and Cherokee
from the old country
under the leadership of Chief Cooweescoowee.

I was born near Eufaula, Alabama,
and left there about 15 years of age
and the trip took about a year,
for the peaches were green
when we left,
and the wild onions plentiful here
when we arrived.


Itshas Harjo, Creek, 1910