The Calling

The Calling

By

Gerald Fisher

http://users.ap.net/~chenae/natpoem.html

The fire is dancing tonight and the winds are talking

Dancers from past lives enter the circle

Leading me back and forth through the history of myself

The mind searches as the spirit dances

The drums...dancing to the heartbeat

Memories of long ago insights to the future

I hear the winds whispering my sweat lodge dreams

I see Sungmanitu tanka (the wolf) my guide

He shows me the ancestors, not mine

They are not Lakota, or Tsalagi, or Iroquois

But they are all Nations, one Nation

Speaking with wisdom to share with each other

Yesterdays create todays and promises of tomorrow

The lies will die with the smoke

And the whispers of the winds are clear and loud

And we shall all see the return of the buffalo
AHO

Reflection:

This poem is a poem of hope, faith and belief. Fisher is sharing with his people the belief that their time will come again and they will once again live unfettered by the chains of the present society. What was stolen from them will be returned, their culture will be revived, and they will rise again. At the same time he is warning the white man, warning them that his people will rise again, and will overcome the oppression that has been their lot for centuries. In his words, "we shall all see the return of the buffalo."

Journal:

You stole from us our ancestral lands and forced us to move to unfertile land not suitable to our needs and lifestyle, we obliged. You erased from the land all of the herds of buffalo that for so long had meant our survival. You slaughtered us and called us savages, unbending in your unjustified beliefs and baseless fears. You disregarded our culture and did everything in your power to destroy it. You have stolen our youth, destroyed our tribes, and given us no compensation. You will face justice, for our time is coming. We will once again roam with the buffalo, and you will no longer opress us.

j

Essential Question:

What drives the white man to conquer the Native American, what makes him believe that he is superior, better, more deserving of the land that the Native Americans have held for hundreds of years; what drives him to overcome a nation that has done nothing to provoke or harm him?