Eskimo Dream

Eskimo Dream Eskimos know 68 shades of snow They count every flake Green blue ones fill children with delight Parents frozen like the dim light of day Wait with edges of a knife for prey They dare not move during the hunt for food Faces etched like leather on fierce weather In calmer times they sing Pound igloos into shape before the pending storm Mukluks on their children’s feet are old and worn But keeps them warm on moonless nights Against all odds for life They hold together chanting on the wind Stretching across all time and land Singing about their past and colder weather And yes, about the color white Sentry huskies sway left to right in fear And think of caribou Soon the ice will cover everything Settled in the deep The people sleep And dream of whale bones by the glacier sea