The Ghost Dance

in the late 1880's word began to spread from where the winds whipped the dry land and the blood of the buffalo lay squandered of a vision that was to save the Earth and the people who cared for her

dance my people, for the cruelty of the white man seems to know no bounds

dance my people, for the tears that have salted our cheeks

cannot heal our hearts nor feed our bodies

dance my people, for our hearts have been broken

and our hungry children need food

dance my people, for

the pale, human faces carrying the wendigo spirit

dig up our mother and overlay her with iron and steel,

tying her down and caging her

dance my people, for the destruction of beauty has befallen us

i have heard, my child, that we can release her.

i have traveled down to the land of the dead

and our relatives have a message for us

they want you to know there is another way.

but it requires sacrifice and it requires love

it requires dedication and pain and hope and

letting go of what you think

you need to hold-on

most to

i was told my child, that the dance will save us.

the dance will take us to another place

The dance will take us

to those who have lived and died

and know how to live and flourish

without harm.

they are on the other side

waiting,

chomping at the bit, to come and dance with us.

come dance with me and we will sing the songs

that will carry us to them and them to us

we will dance through many moons

we

will dance to charm the stars

we

will dance to realign the powers

we

will dance to beat fear away

we

will dance to awaken the joy in our bones

we

will dance to massage our mother earth and send sweet tremblings down to her depths

we will dance to entwine our sweat and heartbeat with her very own

to call our ancestors to us

and uplift their power.

we will, with this confidence, overturn the destruction that has befallen us.

how many have been shot?

how many have been tortured? how many murdered by

ignorance or greed or isolation or cold or heat or hunger or neglect?

how many of our relatives have been run over, caged, shackled?

where is the salvation?

where is the hope? where is the better tomorrow?

where is the sanity? love? compassion?

how do we heal a world that is infected with greed and

punishment and violence

how do we heal hearts that have been wounded, isolated

caged, bound, beaten?

how do we heal the ache that sits in the pit of our gut?

we dance

we dance and we sing songs

that will carry us to them and them to us

we dance till we forget who we are

we dance to charm the stars

we dance to realign the powers

we dance to beat fear away

we dance to lighten the load

we dance to awaken the joy in our bones

we dance to massage our mother earth

And send sweet tremblings down to her depths

And entwine our sweet sweat and heartbeat with her very own

We dance down to the land of the dead

to imbue us

with their love and confidence

we will dance, we will invite the ancestors

we will invite the neighbors

we will dance, we will reject futile pain, suffering and waste

we will dance, we will grow resilient

we will dance, we will hold hands

we will dance, we will look into each others eyes

we will dance, and feel possibility in our bones

we will dance wild, we will dance in the cracks

of the world crumbling around us

on the whirlwind of falling buildings

for the starving children

separated families

women shackled and beaten

left forsaken

for mother earth and father sky

want us to be whole again

they want their children to have courage