Brother Buffalo

This post is for biscuit who worships the buffalo!

The Great Creator who lives beyond the shining sun gave
to our elders, great brother buffalo, holy one,  to feed
and shelter, clothe and protect His many Native People
scattered on the face of this choice land.
The shaggy holy ones were sacrificed that children
might not cry out hungry in the night, that young men
might have strength to protect the old and defenseless,
that all might rise to greet another day.

Their lodge poles stretched his strong skin around the
circle that was their universe. As a mother wraps her
protective arms around a child, so Brother Buffalo kept
homes warm and safe from Old Man Winters’ icy fingers
Buffalo hunters came with senseless slaughter, taking hide
and tongues, leaving flesh and blood to waste on the plains.
General Sherman’s dark plan was that the People should
Follow their slaughtered provider back to Mother Earth.

Human and buffalo – survivors of years of starvation and
massacre confined to dreary reservations behind fences.
Proud ones imprisoned on what was once their own land,
Yet better detained together than scattered and lost.
But The Great Creator, God, in His own times and seasons,
His circle will complete, returning to the center as promised.
Answering the patient prayers of Grandfathers and Mothers
Freeing the captives, renewing the earth and all His creations.

— Laura Martin-Bühler    
New Mexico, ©1970

Tags: Biscuit, Buffalo, Food, Poetry