White Spirit is my name 

I’m now quite old and weak

Proud heritage I claim

and of it now I’ll speak

.

At ancestry look back

starting ’bout 1420

Some detail it might lack 

but information I have plenty

.

Back 500 years and more 

few native tribes used horses

By mountain, plains or shore 

we cared for our resources

.

Apache, Cherokee, Sioux 

Comanche, Mohawk, Pawnee

 Learning bloodline as you grew 

that’s how it had to be

.

Tribes were massive then 

across our country scattered

We’d trade or fight just when 

whichever one most mattered

.

Some lived on grassy plains 

and others lived near trees

Not as history maintains 

it wasn’t all tee-pees

.

By season tribes moved ’round

taking all their things

They covered so much ground 

as if they’d sprouted wings

.

Be it stormy summer nights 

or days of endless sun

Tribal nations had their rights 

which with our blood we won

.

With echoes in the glory

of a pink sunrise in morning

Tribe elders told in story

of the rain God’s early warning

.

Our communities were strong 

laws and customs were obeyed

If anyone did wrong

a penalty they paid

.

Where home once was for kin 

it matters still to me

In my brave’s heart deep within 

it’s where I long to be

***

 

This is a selection from Rhyme & Reason: 200 poems.