"The Great Circle"

You have noticed

 that everything an Indian

 does is in a Circle,

 and that is because

the Power of the World

always works

in Circles,

and everything

 tries to be Round.

In the old days

 when we were  a strong

and happy people,

all our Power came to us,

from the Sacred Hoop of the Nation,

and so long as the Hoop

was Unbroken

the people flourished.

The Flowering Tree 

was the Living Center

of the Hoop,

and the Circle of the Four Quarters

nourished it.

The East gave Peace and Light,

the South gave Warmth,

the West gave Rain,

and the North

with its cold and mighty Wind

gave Strength and

 Endurance.

The Knowledge

comes to us from

the Outer World with our Religion.

Everything the Power 

of the World does

in a Circle.

The Sky is Round,

and I heard that the Earth is Round

like a Ball,

and so are the Stars.

The Wind

in its greatest Power, 

Whirls.

Birds make their nests

in Circles,

for theirs is the same Religion

as ours.

The Sun comes forth

and goes down in a Circle.

The Moon does the same,

and both are Round.

Even the Seasons
form a good Circle
and always come back again
  to where they were.

The life of people 

is in a Circle,

from Childhood to Childhood,

and so it is

in Everything

where Power Moves.

Our teepees

were Round like the nests

of birds,

and they were always

set in a Circle,

the Nation's Hoop,

and a Nest of many Nests,

where the Great Spirit Meant for us

to raise our Children.

~Black Elk;
 (Hehaka Sapa)

December 1863-August 1950
Holy Man,

Oglala Lakota (Sioux)

~Beannaichte'

 27 July, 2016

@beannaichte.twitter.com