Elders

Painting by Kirby Sattler

Elders



by Graham Donnachaidh
Tuesday, December 16, 2003

My sadness....



Once there was a time
of silence
upon our land,
when all who lived
and died
did so
in honour
and dignity,
when the old
died of old age
and young men
died in the freshness
of their youth,
counting coup.

Our people once knew
harmony.
we knew the smell
of the rain soaked
forest,
the softness
of a falling leaf
we witnessed
and smiled, as it
sailed downward
landing upon a
welcoming shore.

We walked amongst
grandeur
with no thought of
grandeur,
for that was the strangers
word for
earth.
he offered only
bloodshed
and with his coming
and his god
they soaked the earth.

The white eyes
from far distant
lands
carried death before them.
A man nailed in torture
upon a tree
was their message
of love
to our people
and we must believe
in this jesus.

Our elders advised us
against
this new god.
The flesh eaters and
blood drinkers
of the white eyes religion
were an abomination.
The great spirit
taught us,
we must return the land
once more,
to the people...
and the silence.

Graham....2003