LORE OF LACROSSE
he plucks the eagle’s feathers
tucks them in his patient’s hair
cayuga’s legs and arms take flight
his eyes behold the heaven’s bright
a powerful bolt of lightening never rests
tossed to and fro with kindred brothers
seven men honor their thunder gods
serious and strong in their athletic prowess
as the game shines a final kiss, an honor
each man attentive, like an army with spears
they bury beloved cayuga with his game stick
a gifted man will continue play in the underworld
3/4/2017
Frank Herrera’s Native American Lore contest
A Place of Creation
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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
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