Unalayee - a Gathering Place of Friendship

We are the weavers of our words We weave the blanket that covers us Gives warmth to our bodies And peace to our souls We weave the picture of us, The hawk, the fish, the deer, The stream, the snow, the winds that blow The sun that rises and the stars that lead us They are the spirits of earth and the heavens We weave from the spirit in the wool With words from the legends of our ghosts Our hands are the storytellers Teaching the hearts of our children For we weave to tell them the story So they will not forget the words Our words are like the breath of who we are We breathe in to take in the life we need We breathe out to give back to our world All that we are and have created We speak our words of joy and peace, Of the drum of war and the thunder of our gods Listen to the crying of our people chanting Of the life that was before they divided us The threads we weave are bound with the blood That flows from the rivers of our circle Known as UNALAYEE The gathering place in our heart The sacred seed of our people So gather now in friendship, love and peace And warm your spirit with all the stories Set upon the weave of our blanket And know how your life is given March 3, 2023 Strand Pemiere No 1194 Poetry Contest