Best Seneca Poems
Lucretia Mott
The meeker sex, she was not!
At the convention in Seneca Falls
Showed men aren't the only ones with balls!
1/26/19
For Educate Me with Humor contest
Sponsor: Andrea Dietrich
Ruler of the Cataracts-Maiden of the Mist
The thundering waters of the Niagara.
Voice of the mighty spirits of the water.
The natives believed and yearly sacrificed
a white canoe with fruit and flowers
and a chosen daughter, until the Christians
came and told them Jesus paid. Not until
Lela-Wala, an only child and motherless,
was chosen did the practice subside.
After she dived, her father Chief Eagle
ran out of the woods and followed her.
1/11/2022
HANDSOME LAKE
He was born as Hadawa'ko “Shaking Snow.”
Handsome’s half-brother was Cornplanter.
My heritage from People of the Longhouse —
John married Margaret, a French woman.
She birthed Helen, my great-great-great grandma.
Together they lived on a reservation.
Handsome was born in 1735 in a Seneca village
on the Genesee River into the Turtle Clan —
later he was adopted into the Wolf Clan.
Doubtless my relatives knew of Handsome Lake.
He signed the U.S. treaty with the Six Nations.
1/11/2022
Referenced Wikipedia.com and webwinds.com
Haudenosaunee ...
translation: They made the house
But who painted it
the colors we now see ---
Red, white and blue
Let's go back in time shall we,
and observe who cut down the first tree
in the eleventh century
Five Nations ...
called by one name, Iroquois
A French given name
Separate nations who agreed
to live under the same
Great Law of Peace
Signified by the Great Tree
that housed all five families
under one roof
Haudenosaunee ...
The long house was proof
that all nations could come together as one
under one roof
A novel idea, way ahead of its time,
the first North American U.N. of it's kind
That was a nice trip back in history,
but the question still remains: who painted the long house
the colors we now see ---
Red, white and blue
The answer, perhaps you never knew
Even so, you never thought about it much, did you
Mohawk red ... a lot of spilt bloodshed
Onondaga white ... a lot of innocent loss of lives
Oneida blue ... a lot of human souls traded too
Cayuga red ... a lot of totems toppled on their head
Seneca white ... a lot of war whoops in the night
Iroquois turquoise blue ... a lot of ancient land taken by someone new
Seems two coats of war paint wasn't enough,
too bad they didn't first try the color of love
Continuation from previous poem
We reached the footer of a castle steep,
Seven times by walls encircled very tall,
Defended by a river hard to leap.
We overpassed it as hard ground at all;
Through seven doors I entered with these wise:
We reached a fresh green lawn nice to enthrall.
There were people with old and severe eyes
Whose appearance exuded mighty guide:
They seldom spoke, had voices with sweet rise.
We were turned out then walking far outside,
In open terrain, tall and full of light,
Such as the view of all was just implied.
There straight on, staying over the green bright,
The wonderful souls I was clearly shown
That seeing them in me I feel delight.
I saw Elettra with mates not alone,
Hector and Aeneas were there,
Caesar armed, with eyes of rapacious tone.
I saw Camilla and Pantasilea in pair;
On other side I saw the Latin king
With child Lavinia sat on a chair.
Bruto who Tarquinio pushed out bring,
Lucrets, July, Marsia and Cornelia;
And saw Saladin to solitude cling.
After I elevated a bit more my cilia
I saw sat the master and those who know
Philosophers’ memorabilia.
All him admire, just all is honor grow:
I then saw Socratis and Plato here,
Who well closer to him than others stow;
Democritus, whose world is random mere,
Diogenes, Anaxogoras and Thales then
Empedocles, Heraclitus , Zenon were;
And the good collector I saw when
Dioscoris was; and Orpheus I saw,
Tulio, Lino , Seneca moral been;
Euclid geometric, Ptolemy raw,
Hippocrat, Avicen, Galien too,
Averois, who the great comment foresaw.
I cannot fully tell of all just through,
But the full theme is pushing me so long,
That many times my word becomes not true.
The group of six is now of two less strong:
Another way is choosing my guide bright
Out of the quiet air, to trembling wrong.
And I am going where there is no light.
People flock to Naples.
Monday, lunch-crowd
Says, "I'll take the
Graveyard--'Bob n' Ruth's' special."
Seneca chiefs continue
Their conversations.
Symbols speak in
Passionate tongues.
Who's listening?
The Bristol Hills know
That every tree and vine
Has a tale worth telling,
"Forgive us,
Our dearest Seneca brothers."
A chief of the Senecas chose to be buried in Naples, NY in the late 19th century.
A Place of Creation
---------------------
Telephone City, Wayne Gretzky’s home town, the place of my birth.
Thirty three years, I played, worked and walked this piece of earth.
Given - by Sir Frederick Haldimand, “ Haldimand Proclamation, ” -
to the Iroquois, six miles, each side of the Grand River, the six Nation
Reserve, from its source to its mouth ( 950,000 acres ) 904,000 eradicated,
46,000 acres left for the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, the rest confiscated,
as the Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora are left to share this land.
Most taken by many devious means at the white man’s hand.
This is the place I grew up, the place that educated me.
The mean Streets of Brantford, forty years I seldom see.
Three thousand miles, forty two years away.
Life has been, in many ways, lived within a fray.
Home is where the soul, the spirit, the heart is, anyway.
So out here in beautiful B. C., is where I will stay.
B. J. “A” 2
April 4th 2016
Lady Lake Seneca
Full moon upon lake
Rippling waves bounce at my feet
Sea of stars below
I was asked, "What is important to you?" by a friend-
she was just making conversation...
I was silent, deep in thought of diversity-
The true meaning of important.
Other than the worldly treasures of love,
money to survive, intelligence and adventure-
WORDS- was my answer.
Words. Power. Intelligence. Knowledge.
Adventure. Love. Death. Birth. God. Evil.
Conception. Contemplation. Life. Living.
Ovid, Homer, Ducasse, Rimbaud,
Patterson, Rice, Strieber, Jung, Darwin,
Verne, Grisham, Seneca, Christ...
As I read the words from the greatest,
and not so greatest, of minds-
It is all encompassing. I am in their world.
Writers bring their world to life when simple
words are written.
I can go to Atlantis, dissect a human, kill mummies,
be a vampire, see into the mind of a beagle, fly with eagles,
see the center of the Earth, view a rose in a way alien to me.
I can do anything. I have yet to do everything.
WORDS- little configurations with infinite
meaning.
Did The Tree Spirits Die Too
Shadows wrap the mighty black oaks
moving so slow like the older folks
Many decades have grown trees strong
I listen for that most ancient song
Terrible storms have left their mark
trees scarred, cut, bent and swayed
Dark black trunks of fire burnt bark
where forest fires savagely played
At times whispers can be heard
listen and one can so clearly hear
tree spirits uttering a single word
a moaning cry without a single tear
Stop cutting to just foolishly waste
we are here for another important reason
think long term act not in haste
allow us each and every growing season
Think of clean air and beauty we provide
not just the money to be greedily made
We each have growing hearts deep inside
and spirits we would never ever trade
Shadows guard the mighty black oaks
moving so slow like the older folks
Many decades have grown trees strong
I listen for their most ancient song
Robert J. Lindley, 03-28-2015
note: Must give credit to the teachings of my Native American heritage.
Pagan it may be but they worshipped mother earth, the streams and the trees, the animals etc.
I have many, many books on the Native Americans and their religious beliefs are fascinating...
"When you enter a grove peopled with ancient trees, higher than the ordinary, and shutting out the sky with their thickly inter-twined branches, do not the stately shadows of the wood, the stillness of the place, and the awful gloom of this doomed cavern then strike you with the presence of a deity?"
- Seneca
Quote from the Roman Seneca but one can easily imagine the great Indian chief and orator Seneca expressing the exact same sentiment as the Native Americans lived it..
Writing , I went to the sonnet form at 14 verses but felt the need to go farther.
Repetition of the opening stanza in my closing stanza is normally done with no changes
but in this poem I made slight changes for a reason.
Originally posted today at another forum that I lounge around shooting the breeze with political junkies..
Timendi causa est nescire (Ignorance is the cause of fear).
– Seneca
About two thousand years ago,
when Quintilianus said it
(at least, that’s who gets the credit),
his paradigm was apropos:
the words “Vestis Virum Reddit.”
Garbed in leather, silks, and cotton,
emperors took his words to heart
(at least, they tried to look the part).
While rags for the misbegotten
kept wealth and hoi polloi apart.
Latin lessons soon forgotten
as kingdoms rose and kingdoms fell.
The rich get rich, the poor rebel
all through the Middle Ages rotten,
and the Enlightenment as well.
The New World spawned a tyrant king,
who would rule The Divided States,
fomenting fears with false dictates.
He'd boast that he knew everything,
a claim the test of time negates.
Galumphing loud he’d hit the links,
while flashing flaming orange hair,
and a most massive derriere.
His minions thought it ugly stinks,
but if he knew he didn’t care.
Sometimes he’d putt without his clothes,
few dared tell him he’s forgetful --
those who tried were soon regretful.
For it’s the truth that he most loathes,
and Media makes him fretful.
What is the measure of a man
who walks naked from his tower
while his Party members cower?
Has no patriot in his clan
the spine to speak truth to power?
When pictures in the Press were viewed,
“Fake news!” he’d claim. “This I decree.
I wear fine clothes, as you can see.”
Blame hubris? Blame ineptitude?
Let’s let the judge be history.
So, let us speak of history,
to the feckless that forget it
the words “Vestis Virum Reddit.”
Let truth be not a mystery --
give Quintilianus credit!
February 2022
"Latin Lessons" Poetry Contest sponsored by Margarita Lillico
Siren Call
At night it's so strong
My Lady Lake Seneca
Calls to me the most
"It hurts bald men as much as hairy men to have their hairs pulled out."
~Seneca
The bald man moans
for his house, rooted up,
dripping above the sewer.
A q tip might plug it.
Alcohol might fix it for weeks.
The hairy man sues
for his house, shooted up
miles above the hustle.
An underhanded tip will save it.
Alcohol could cover it forever.
Seneca's hair must have covered
his eyes.
Plato says that Heaven is perfect things,
that nothing pure or good exists on earth.
We leave the Ideal World when, at our birth,
like ants who've briefly flown, we shed our wings.
All infants cry, in Shakespeare's view, when first
they leave the womb, to find this Vale of Tears
is what they must inhabit four score years,
dreading the hardship into which they've burst.
Our human life, so Seneca would say,
is prone to failure, suffering and pain.
The only shreds of solace that remain
are stoic calm, acceptance of decay.
They're wrong, of course, to tend towards this view:
but then, my Perfect Girl, they didn't know you.
Seneca Gun and A Sonic Boom
A Seneca gun is usually only one
After it has been over and done;
When you feel,
Wonder if real;
Two or more loom, were sonic boom.
Jim Horn
“A man is as miserable as he thinks he is” -Seneca
I want to do bigger and better things in my life
I want to fulfill all my potentialities
I want my actions to be the example
I just want to be the best I can possibly be
I'm prepared to endure great losses
I'm willing to stand in the fire and to bleed
I am prepared to fall into deep despair
Because when I fail, it's a step in the process that sets me free
I know there's only one true competitor in my life
Its the voice of discontent and self-doubt that whispers in my mind
But when I'm mindful of the internal narrative
I'm empowered to control the controllables in my life
For I am responsible
I'm not a pathetic helpless victim in this life
I'm a warrior, a conqueror
I’ll willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice
The sacrifice is having extreme patiences
And staying true to your word
It's about relentless perseverance
Sadly, to the younger generation, these actions seem absurd
This life, my life, will not be taken for granted
I have personal choices to make
And that choice is to give everything I have
Anything less, would be a serious mistake