Vision Quest

VISION QUEST The Sioux chief Brown Eagle taught me self-respect And I saw my life as an Englishman must have greater purpose, And that these "savages" were actually my saviors. The spirit of his tribe drew me; to resist was useless. The closest spirit was Brown Eagle’s sister : But Bright Water could marry only a warrior-chief : To prove worthy to marry into the tribe, and to lead it, I had to endure long tests and trials of grief. I studied the ways of Brown Eagle, Whose many scars were openly displayed, Showing his warrior-status, as well as reminding all Of the torture ritual in the tribe and the respect to be paid. The tribe medicine-man explained what should happen: I had to undergo a series of ritual tortures and tribulation, Including an O-Kee-Pa style chest-suspension ceremony, And its most grueling part, the Sun Vow Initiation. I was hauled up to the roof of a huge tepee By buffalo-bone hooks through my pectoral muscles, flowing red: Excruciating exquisite pain - as my former life was torn out of my chest: My spirit ascended to the roof and I saw my own body dead. In a sincere desire to become one with the tribe my spirit left The tepee on a shamanic journey into another order of realization, A landscape of magic and mystery - and during this ordeal Manitou came to me in the form of the White Buffalo - a sacred vision: Hooves pounding, eyes flaring, He emerged from a vast prairie fire. And of leadership, duty and responsibility I heard Him speak: And His huge presence ran with my horse and guided me over the endless Short-grass plains to Bright Water’s flowing creek. Attention and energy of my small self was removed from its centre; The world around expanded correspondingly, enhancing A changing, fluid, magical, and mysterious realm of the unknown. Deep-etched imagery, a dream of death-and-life entrancing. My emotional state transcended any normal boundaries In sacred time and space - because of the ritual, the ceremony, The privation, the torture, the longing for communion. I drank from the flowing creek and returned to the tepee. Helpless, I was cut down from the tepee roof, rejoined To the world of flesh and bone; but my fire-baptised Spirit had new authentic power, and Brown Eagle took my arm: What is your name, brother? I proudly took the name - Buffalo Eyes. From the culture of the High Plains Sioux in the USA Inspired by the movie A MAN CALLED HORSE (1970) starring Richard Harris.