Native American Translations

Native American Translations Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I loose translation by Michael R. Burch I will extract the thorns from your feet. For yet a little while, we will walk life's sunlit paths together. I will love you like my own brother, my own blood. When you are disconsolate, I will wipe the tears from your eyes. And when you are too sad to live, I will put your aching heart to rest. Cherokee Travelers' Blessing II loose translation by Michael R. Burch Happily may you walk in the paths of the Rainbow. Oh, and may it always be beautiful before you, beautiful behind you, beautiful below you, beautiful above you, and beautiful all around you where in Perfection beauty is finished. Cherokee Travelers' Blessing III loose translation by Michael R. Burch May Heaven’s warming winds blow gently there, where you reside, and may the Great Spirit bless all those you love, this side of the farthest tide. And wherever you go, whether the journey is fast or slow, may your moccasins leave many cunning footprints in the snow. And when you look over your shoulder, may you always find the Rainbow. Sioux Vision Quest A man must pursue his Vision as the eagle explores the sky's deepest blues. –Crazy Horse, Oglala Lakota Sioux (circa 1840-1877), translated by Michael R. Burch Native American Travelers' Blessing loose translation by Michael R. Burch Let us walk together here among earth's creatures great and small, remembering, our footsteps light, that one wise God created all. Native American Prayer loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Help us learn the lessons you have left us in every leaf and rock. Cherokee Proverb loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Before you judge a man for his sins be sure to trudge many moons in his moccasins. Cherokee Prayer loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch As I walk life's trails imperiled by the raging wind and rain, grant, O Great Spirit, that yet I may always walk like a man. When I think of this prayer, I think of Native Americans walking the Trail of Tears. Native American Proverbs loose translations by Michael R. Burch When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. –White Elk, translation by Michael R. Burch The soul would see no Rainbows if not for the eyes’ tears. A brave man dies but once, a coward many times. A woman’s highest calling is to help her man unite with the Source. A man’s highest calling is to help his woman walk the earth unharmed. When we sit in the Circle of the People, we must be responsible because all Creation is related and the suffering of one is the suffering of all and the joy of one is the joy of all and whatever we do affects everything in the universe. —"Lakota Instructions for Living" by White Buffalo Calf Woman, translated by Michael R. Burch The Receiving of the Flower excerpt from a Mayan love poem loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Let us sing overflowing with joy as we observe the Receiving of the Flower. The lovely maidens beam; their hearts leap in their breasts. Why? Because they will soon yield their virginity to the men they love! The Deflowering excerpt from a Mayan love poem loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Remove your clothes; let down your hair; become as naked as the day you were born— virgins! Prelude to Lovemaking excerpt from a Mayan love poem loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Lay out your most beautiful clothes, maidens! The day of happiness has arrived! Grab your combs, detangle your hair, adorn your earlobes with gaudy pendants. Dress in white as becomes maidens ... Then go, give your lovers the happiness of your laughter! And all the village will rejoice with you, for the day of happiness has arrived! The Flower-Strewn Pool excerpt from a Mayan love poem loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch You have arrived at last in the woods where no one can see what you do at the flower-strewn pool ... Remove your clothes, unbraid your hair, become as you were when you first arrived here naked and shameless, virgins, maidens! Peace Prayer by Michael R. Burch for Jim Dunlap Be calm. Be still. Be silent, content. Be one with the buffalo cropping the grass to a safer height. Seek the composure of the great depths, barely moved by exterior storms. Lift your face to the dawning light; feel how it warms. And be calm. Be still. Be silent, content. Earthbound an original poem by Michael R. Burch Tashunka Witko, better known as Crazy Horse, had a vision of a red-tailed hawk at Sylvan Lake, South Dakota. In his vision he saw himself riding a spirit horse, flying through a storm, as the hawk flew above him, shrieking. When he awoke, a red-tailed hawk was perched near his horse. Earthbound, and yet I now fly through the clouds that are aimlessly drifting ... so high that no sound echoing by below where the mountains are lifting the sky can be heard. Like a bird, but not meek, like a hawk from a distance regarding its prey, I will shriek, not a word, but a screech, and my terrible clamor will turn them to clay— the sheep, the earthbound. These nights bring dreams of Cherokee shamans whose names are bright verbs and impacted dark nouns, whose memories are indictments of my pallid flesh . . . and I hear, as from a great distance, the cries tortured from their guileless lips, proclaiming the nature of my mutation. -Michael R. Burch, from "Mongrel Dreams" When Pigs Fly by Michael R. Burch On the Trail of Tears, my Cherokee brothers, why hang your heads? Why shame your mothers? Laugh wildly instead! We will soon be dead. When we lie in our graves, let the white-eyes take the woodlands we loved for the hoe and the rake. It is better to die than to live out a lie in so narrow a sty.