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 |  | Monday November 23, 2009 2:46 AM |
 | | Poetry and Songs by Native Americans | |
Ohiyesa remembers the past (Sioux)
As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten
this grace since I became civilized. I lived the natural life,
whereas now I live the artificial. Any pretty pebble was
valuable to me then; every growing tree an object of reverence.
Now I worship with the white man before a painted landscape
whose value is estimated in dollars! Thus the Indian is reconstructed,
as the natural rocks are ground to powder and
made into artificial blocks which may be built into the walls
of modern society.
The first American mingled with his pride a singular
humility. Spiritual arrogance was foreign to his nature and
teaching. He never claimed that the power of articulate speech
was proof of superiority over the dumb creation; on
the other hand, it is to him a perilous gift. He believes
profoundly in silence - the sign of a perfect equilibrium.
Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and
spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood is ever calm and
unshaken by the storms of existence - not a leaf, as it were,
astir on the tree; not a ripple upon the surface of the shining
pool - his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal
attitude and conduct of life.
If you ask him: "What is silence?" he will answer: "It is
the Great Mystery" "The holy silence is His voice!" If you
ask: "What are the fruits of silence?" he will say: "They are
self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and
reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character."
"Guard your tongue in youth," said the old chief, Wabashaw,
"and in age you may mature a thought that will be of service to
your people!"
From Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian, 1911.
Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) was born near Redwood Falls, Minnesota, in 1858.
His father was a full-blooded Sioux, his mother the daughter of an
army officer, granddaughter of a famous Sioux chief. As a boy
he lived still the free nomadic life of the Sioux; later, however,
he took up the ways of the white man, went to college.
He graduated from Dartmouth College, N.H., in 1887, and studied
medicine at Boston University.
Last Updated
December 23, 2004
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