The Medicine Wheel

Below this azure sky upon these plains and hills we roam,

The old ones say this life is the only one we have known,
Listen Brothers proudly we carry this blood our ancestors gave,
Whether Chieftain, Medicine Man, or merely Lakota Brave.
~*~
Our seasons of this life are those of the medicine wheel,
Balance beginning in the east as the rising gold sun reveals,
On this land in which we dwell without walls or doors,
Shedding light on this world as the golden eagle soars.
~*~
From the south comes our summer and all things green,
Grows the plentiful time when life is easy we dream,
Little ones' singing, laughter, and play echo round,
All our peoples' hearts and spirits lifted by the sound.
~*~
To the west in which the sun sinks to the black of night,
Horizon boldly painted in red, orange, and yellow light,
Like the Bear this time spent to look within each soul,
Each was granting peace to the spirits regardless of role.
~*~
Completing the wheel, down from north winter descends,
Time of dormancy and renewal to earth made amends,
Wisdom of the prairie buffalo and woodland wolf reflects,
These truths are revealed by the wheel in all respects.
~*~
We people the Lakota Sioux, the world like the eagle see,
The earth is our mother and gladly shall always be,
The sky is our father, who holds the moon and the sun,
This land is our home where the healing waters run.
~*~
fini
S.L. Keck
5/4/1999