Topic: Native Hearts

[nichi]

Three Lakota Songs


May the sun rise in splendor
May the earth appear in light

~~~~~

A wind
wears
me

Look

It is
sacred


~~~~~


A rainbow hoop
wears
me

Everybody
sees me
coming

[nichi]

George Carlin on Indians, as found on Joy Harjo's site:

"Now the Indians. I call them Indians because that's what they are.
They're Indians. There's nothing wrong with the word Indian.

"First of all, it's important to know that the word Indian does not derive from Columbus mistakenly believing he had reached 'India.' India was not even called by that name in 1492; it was known as Hindustan.

More likely, the word Indian comes from Columbus's description of the people he found here. He was an Italian, and did not speak or write very good Spanish, so in his written accounts he called the Indians, "Una gente in Dios." A people in God. In God. In Dios. Indians. It's a perfectly noble and respectable word.

As far as calling them 'Americans' is concerned, do I even have to
point out what an insult this is? ----- We steal their hemisphere, kill twenty or so million of them, destroy five hundred separate cultures, herd the survivors onto the worst land we can find, and now we want to name them after ourselves? It's appalling. Haven't we done enough damage? Do we have to further degrade them by tagging them with the repulsive name of their conquerors?

You know, you'd think it would be a fairly simple thing to come over to this continent, commit genocide, eliminate the forests, dam up the rivers, build our malls and massage parlors, sell our blenders and whoopee cushions, poison ourselves with chemicals, and let it go at that. But no. We have to compound the insult....

I'm glad the Indians have gambling casinos now. It makes me happy that dimwitted white people are losing their rent money to the Indians. Maybe the Indians will get lucky and win their country back. Probably wouldn't want it. Look at what we did to it."


http://www.joyharjo.com/news/

[nichi]

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Trudell/Sahme (aka Quiltman)

Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
How do we sell our mother
How do we sell the stars
How do we sell the air
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say

Too many people
Standing their ground
Standing the wrong ground
Predators face he possessed a race
Possession a war that doesn't end
Children of god feed on children of earth
Days people don't care for people
These days are the hardest
Material fields material harvest
decoration on chains that binds
Mirrors gold the people lose their minds
Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
Today is now and then
Dream smokes touch the clouds
On a day when death didn't die
Real world time tricks shadows lie
Red white perception deception
Predator tries civilising us
But the tribes will not go without return
Genetic light from the other side
A song from the heart our hearts to give
The wild days the glory days live

Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
How do we sell our mother
How do we sell the stars
How do we sell the air

Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
We are the seventh generation
We are the seventh generation

John Trudell spoken word
Quiltman Traditional Vocals
Mark Shark slide guitar and percussion
Ricky Eckstein Keyboards and percussion
Billy Watts Electric guitar

[nichi]

Sometimes I go about pitying myself,
and all the time
I am being carried on great winds across the sky.

~Ojibway (Anonymous)

[Nichi]

We only rise from sleep, we only come to dream,
it is not true, it is not true, that we come on earth to live.
 
Tochihuitzin Coyolchiuhqui

[Nichi]

Not always on earth;
Only a short while here.
Even jade splits.
Even gold breaks.
Even the quetzal's feathers fall.
Not always on earth;
Only a short while here."
 
Nezahualcoyotl (Hungry Coyote), Last Emperor of Texcoco

[Nichi]

Teach Us and Show Us the Way

We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring
heights, its vitality and abundance of life, and together we ask that it

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the mountains, the Cascades and the Olympics, the high green
valleys and meadows filled with wild flowers, the snows that never melt, the
summits of intense silence, and we ask that they

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon, that flow in our
rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens and fields and we ask that they

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the land which grows our food, the nurturing soil, the fertile fields,
the abundant gardens and orchards, and we ask that they

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the forests, the great trees reaching strongly to the sky with earth in
their roots and the heavens in their branches, the fir and the pine and the
cedar, and we ask them to

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the seas, our brothers and
sisters the wolves and deer, the eagle and dove, the great whales and the dolphin,
the beautiful Orca and salmon who share our Northwest home, and we ask them to

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon all those who have lived on this earth, our ancestors and our friends,
who dreamed the best for future generations, and upon whose lives our lives are
built, and with thanksgiving, we call upon them to

Teach us, and show us the Way.

And lastly, we call upon all that we hold most sacred, the presence and power of
the Great Spirit of love and truth which flows through all the Universe, to be with
us to

Teach us, and show us the Way.


~Chinook (Anonymous)
 

 

from The Essential Mystics: Selections from the World's Great Wisdom Traditions, Edited by Andrew Harvey

[Nichi]

CALLING-ONE'S-OWN
OJIBWA


Awake! flower of the forest, sky-treading bird of the prairie.
Awake! awake! wonderful fawn-eyed One.
When you look upon me I am satisfied; as flowers that drink dew.
The breath of your mouth is the fragrance of flowers in the morning,
Your breath is their fragrance at evening in the moon-of-fading-leaf.
Do not the red streams of my veins run toward you
As forest-streams to the sun in the moon of bright nights?
When you are beside me my heart sings; a branch it is, dancing,
Dancing before the Wind-spirit in the moon of strawberries.
When you frown upon me, beloved, my heart grows dark—
A shining river the shadows of clouds darken,
Then with your smiles comes the sun and makes to look like gold
Furrows the cold wind drew in the water's face.
Myself! behold me! blood of my beating heart.


Earth smiles—the waters smile—even the sky-of-clouds smiles—but I,
I lose the way of smiling when you are not near,
Awake! awake! my beloved.

[Nichi]

HOLY SONG
(WINNEBAGO)
   

(Saith the Spirit,
"Dream, oh, dream again,
And tell of me,
        Dream thou!")


Into solitude went I
And wisdom was revealed to me.
    (Saith the Spirit,
"Dream, oh, dream again,
And tell of me,
        Dream thou!")


Let the whole world hear me,
Wise am I!
    (Now saith the Spirit,
"Tell of me,
        Dream thou!")

All was revealed to me;
From the beginning
Know I all, hear me!
All was revealed to me!
    (Now saith the Spirit,
"Tell of me,
        Dream thou!")

[Nichi]

LOVE-SONG
(WINNEBAGO)

Whomsoe’er look I upon
    He becomes love-crazed;
Whomsoe’er speak I unto,
    He becomes love-crazed;
Whomsoe’er whisper I to,
    He becomes love-crazed;
All men who love women,
Them I rule, them I rule,
    My friend;
Whom I touch, whom I touch,
    He becomes love-crazed.

[Nichi]

FIRE-FLY SONG
(OJIBWA)

Flitting white-fire insects!
Wandering small-fire beasts!
Wave little stars about my bed!
Weave little stars into my sleep!
Come, little dancing white-fire bug,
Come, little flitting white-fire beast!
Light me with your white-flame magic,
Your little star-torch.

[Nichi]

EARTH-MOTHER

O, ho, yo,
O, ho, yo,
To thee, my life,
To thee, my wife,
To thee, my mother—

Who are these the many-feeding?
Heaps of horns,
Hills of fur—
To thee, I come to partake of food,
My mother,
O, ho—

So say’th the spring,
So say’th the wing,
So say’th my mother—

Thus, it was I heard the feet beat—
My ear down,
On the ground—
Yea, I put my lips to thee and drank song,
My mother,
O, ho—

So cries the tree,
So cries the sea,
So cries my mother—

There, the word was overheard,
By the cactus
Standing lone—
Yea, by the cypress thou wilt teach me,
My mother,
O, ho—

So walks the light,
So walks the night,
So walks my mother—

Even unto the long black shadows,
Goeth the frail thing,
Evening star—
Whither thou goeth and thy smile go I,
My mother.
O, ho—

So broods the dark,
So broods the bark,
So broods my mother—

Beneath the bark-blanket were the little men—
The six-legged,
Painted black and red—

Unto thee will I hide me to sleep,
My mother,
O, ho—

To thee, O breath,
To thee, O death,
To thee, my mother—

I saw it, yea in a dream, I saw it—
My soul
Arise from sleep—
In the morning, thou wilt call me,
My mother.

O, ho, yo,
O, ho, yo,
To thee, O—
Yo.


The Path on the Rainbow, edited by George W. Cronyn, [1918], at sacred-texts.com

[Nichi]

SONG OF A PASSIONATE LOVER
FROM THE YOKUT


Come not near my songs,
You who are not my lover,
Lest from out that ambush
Leaps my heart upon you!

When my songs are glowing
As an almond thicket
With the bloom upon it,
Lies my heart in ambush
All amid my singing;
Come not near my songs,
You who are not my lover!

Do not hear my songs,
You who are not my lover,
Over-sweet the heart is
Where my love has bruised it,
Breathe you not that fragrance,
You who are not my lover!
Do not stoop above my heart
With its languor on you,
Lest I should not know you
From my own belovèd,
Lest from out my singing
Leaps my heart upon you!

[Nichi]

In the beginning, there was blackness. Only the sea. In the beginning there was no sun, no moon, no people. In the beginning there were no animals, no plants. Only the sea.
The sea was the Mother. The Mother was not people, she was not anything. Nothing at all. She was when she was, darkly. She was memory and potential. She was aluna....

Everything we do is an event not only in the physical world but also in the spirit world. We live in a world shaped in spirit. Every tree, every stone, every river, has a spirit form, invisible to the Younger Brother. This is the world of aluna, the world of thought and spirit. Aluna embraces intelligence, soul and fertility: it is the stuff of life, the essence of reality. The material world is underpinned, shaped, given life and generative power in aluna, and the Mama's work is carried out in aluna.

"You are changing the world into light. Be not afraid of your innocence and your child nature, it is close to God. Let your imagination soar into a Dream where love surrounds all events, then "see" it as real. Let the sounds of your hearts talk to those who are not alive. You have shown them the way by your example, now "show" them the way from within. Listen, and your heart will speak. We are with you now. We will help you.".


-Kogi Indians

[Nichi]

"In talking to children, the old Lakota would place a hand on the ground and explain: ‘We sit in the lap of our Mother. From her we, and all other living things, come. We shall soon pass, but the place where we now rest will last forever.’ So we, too, learned to sit or lie on the ground and become conscious of life about us in its multitude of forms."

- Chief Luther Standing Bear