Silhouette
The sky-line melts from russet into blue,
Unbroken the horizon, saving where
A wreath of smoke curls up the far, thin air,
And points the distant lodges of the Sioux.
Etched where the lands and cloudlands touch and die
A solitary Indian tepee stands,
The only habitation of these lands,
That roll their magnitude from sky to sky.
The tent poles lift and loom in thin relief,
The upward floating smoke ascends between,
And near the open doorway, gaunt and lean,
And shadow-like, there stands an Indian Chief.
With eyes that lost their lustre long ago,
With visage fixed and stern as fate's decree,
He looks towards the empty west, to see
The never-coming herd of buffalo.
Only the bones that bleach upon the plains,
Only the fleshless skeletons that lie
In ghastly nakedness and silence, cry
Out mutely that naught else to him remains
poem by Emily Pauline Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
I'm An Indian Too
Like the Seminole, Navajo, Kickapoo
Like those Indians
I'm an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux
Just like Battle Axe, Hatchet Face, Eagle Nose
Like those Indians
I'm an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux
Some Indian summer's day
Without a sound
I may hide away
With Big Chief Hole-in-the-Ground
And I'll have totem poles, tomahawks, pipes of peace
Which will go to prove
I'm an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux
With my chief in his teepee
We'll raise an Indian family
And I'll be busy night and day
Looking like a flour sack
With two papooses on my back
And three papooses on the way
Like the Chippewa, Iroquois, Omaha
Like those Indians
I'm an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux
Just like Rising Moon, Falling Pants, Running Nose
Like those Indians
I'm an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux
Some Indian summer's day
Without a care
I may run away
With Big Chief Son-of-a-Bear
And I'll wear moccasins, wampum beads, feather hats
Which will go to prove
I'm an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux
song performed by by Irving Berlin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The quill worker
Plains, plains, and the prairie land which the sunlight floods and fills,
To the north the open country, southward the Cyprus Hills;
Never a bit of woodland, never a rill that flows,
Only a stretch of cactus beds, and the wild, sweet prairie rose;
Never a habitation, save where in the far south-west
A solitary tepee lifts its solitary crest,
Where Neykia in the doorway, crouched in the red sunshine,
Broiders her buckskin mantle with the quills of the porcupine.
Neykia, the Sioux chief's daughter, she with the foot that flies,
She with the hair of midnight and the wondrous midnight eyes,
She with the deft brown fingers, she with the soft, slow smile,
She with the voice of velvet and the thoughts that dream the while,--
"Whence come the vague to-morrows? Where do the yesters fly?
What is beyond the border of the prairie and the sky?
Does the maid in the Land of Morning sit in the red sunshine,
Broidering her buckskin mantle with the quills of the porcupine?"
So Neykia, in the westland, wonders and works away,
Far from the fret and folly of the "Land of Waking Day."
And many the pale-faced trader who stops at the tepee door
For a smile from the sweet, shy worker, and a sigh when the hour is o'er.
For they know of a young red hunter who oftentimes has stayed
To rest and smoke with her father, tho' his eyes were on the maid;
And the moons will not be many ere she in the red sunshine
Will broider his buckskin mantle with the quills of the porcupine.
poem by Emily Pauline Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Swan Lee
Swan lee got up at the running foot pow-wow,
Heading from the fire to his waiting canoe.
Chattering squaw untied the wigwam door,
The chief blew smoke rings two by two!
The land in silence stands...
Swan lee, his boat by the bank in the darkness,
Loosened the rope in the creek is entwined.
A feather from the wing of a wild young eagle,
Pointed to the land where his fortune he'd find
The land in silence stands
Swan lee paddled on from the land of his fathers,
His eyes scanned the undergrowth on either side.
From the shore hung a hot, heavy, creature infested
Tropic, swan lee had a bow by his side
The land in silence stands
Swan lee kept time, half on land, half on water,
Grizzly bear and raccoon his fare.
He followed his ears to the great water fall,
Swan lee knew deep down that his squaw was there!
The land in silence stands....
Suddenly the rush of the mighty great thunder,
Confronted swan lee as his song he sang,
In the dawn, with his squaw, he was battling homewards
It was all written down by long silas lang.
The land in silence stands...
The land in silence stands...
The land in silence stands.
song performed by by Pink Floyd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Sonnet: Kargil War-song
March Ye forward, O Indian sepoy!
’Tis wartime again on land, sea and sky;
Our foes occupy the Kargil hills O boy!
And mountains and vales, where war-planes can’t fly.
March Ye forward, O Indian soldier!
The north-west sky is filled with smoke and fire;
Kashmir’s vale’s at stake, so is the frontier;
The enemy has the vantage, not attire.
March Ye forward, O Indian jawan;
Ye flush out the intruders everyone;
Climb the mountains by night and strike by dawn;
Give thy precious life to silence their gun.
March Ye forward, March Ye forward, nev’r stop;
Hoist the Indian tricolor Kargil-top!
poem by John Celes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Pilot of the Plains
``False,' they said, ``thy Pale-face lover, from the land of waking morn ;
Rise and wed thy Redskin wooer, nobler warrior ne'er was born ;
Cease thy watching, cease thy dreaming,
Show the white thine Indian scorn.'
Thus they taunted her, declaring, ``He remembers naught of thee :
Likely some white maid he wooeth, far beyond the inland sea.'
But she answered ever kindly,
``He will come again to me,'
Till the dusk of Indian summer crept athwart the western skies ;
But a deeper dusk was burning in her dark and dreaming eyes,
As she scanned the rolling prairie,
Where the foothills fall, and rise.
Till the autumn came and vanished, till the season of the rains,
Till the western world lay fettered in midwinter's crystal chains,
Still she listened for his coming,
Still she watched the distant plains.
Then a night with nor'land tempest, nor'land snows a-swirling fast,
Out upon the pathless prairie came the Pale-face through the blast,
Calling, calling, ``Yakonwita,
I am coming, love, at last.'
Hovered night above, about him, dark its wings and cold and dread ;
Never unto trail or tepee were his straying footsteps led ;
Till benumbed, he sank, and pillowed
On the drifting snows his head,
Saying, ``O! my Yakonwita call me, call me, be my guide
To the lodge beyond the prairie-for I vowed ere winter died
I would come again, belovèd ;
I would claim my Indian bride.'
``Yakonwita, Yakonwita! ' Oh, the dreariness that strains
Through the voice that calling, quivers, till a whisper but remains,
``Yakonwita, Yakonwita,
I am lost upon the plains.'
But the Silent Spirit hushed him, lulled him as he cried anew,
``Save me, save me! O! beloved, I am Pale but I am true.
Yakonwita, Yakonwita
I am dying, love, for you.'
Leagues afar, across the prairie, she had risen from her bed,
Roused her kinsmen from their slumber : ``He has come to-night,' she said.
``I can hear him calling, calling ;
But his voice is as the dead.
``Listen! ' and they sate all silent, while the tempest louder grew,
And a spirit-voice called faintly, ``I am dying, love, for you.'
Then they wailed, ``O! Yakonwita.
He was Pale, but he was true.'
Wrapped she then her ermine round her, stepped without the tepee door,
Saying, ``I must follow, follow, though he call for evermore,
Yakonwita, Yakonwita ; '
And they never saw her more.
Late at night, say Indian hunters, when the starlight clouds or wanes,
Far away they see a maiden, misty as the autumn rains,
Guiding with her lamp of moonlight
Hunters lost upon the plains.
poem by Emily Pauline Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Dealing With Bullies
The lion picks out his gazelle for the kill,
As the herd stands around and watches.
'Well, he picked the weakest one I guess.'
The pack of hyenas pick out the Zebra to dissect,
As the rest of the herd stands around and watches.
'Well, she didn't really fit in to our group.'
The tiger picks out a weak, young water buffalo.
As the rest of he herd of buffalo approach the tiger.
' Well, we've had enough, they attack him.'
With tail in hand, he flees for his life!
poem by Barry A. Lanier
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Earth & Sun & Moon
In the morning we will wake up and take to the air
Look back at the planet - Im glued to my chair
Southern half is burning as we climb through the cky
Sea birds softly falling, smoke way up high
Theres the contours of the mountains, the deserts and plains
And a hurricane is blowing, and it turns once again
Now theres oil spills in the water where columbus once sailed
And theres history and mystery and its rolling away
I wish you could see this great mystery
Earth and sun and moon, human tribe, thin blue line
Earth and sun and moon will survive
Sediment is flowing from river to sea
Now where are the mighty nations, no lines to be seen
An axe upon the broken ground the sigh of the trees
And its floating in the ether, it brings me to my knees
Too messed up to care
Anyone got a wing and a prayer
In the blink of an eye
Thank you and goodnight
Earth and sun and moon, human tribe, one thin blue line
Earth and sun and moon will survive, will survive, we will survive
(moginie)
song performed by by Midnight Oil
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Smoke
Smoke, it is all smoke
in the throat of eternity. . . .
For centuries, the air was full of witches
Whistling up chimneys
on their spiky brooms
cackling or singing more sweetly than Circe,
as they flew over rooftops
blessing & cursing their
kind.
We banished & burned them
making them smoke in the throat of god;
we declared ourselves
"enlightened."
"The dark age of horrors is past,"
said my mother to me in 1952,
seven years after our people went up in smoke,
leaving a few teeth, a pile of bones.
The smoke curls and beckons.
It is blue & lavender
& green as the undersea world.
It will take us, too.
O let us not go sheepishly
clinging to our nakedness.
But let us go like witches sucked heavenward
by the Goddess' powerful breath
& whistling, whistling, whistling
on our beautiful brooms.
poem by Erica Jong
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Living On A Thin Line
All the stories have been told
Of kings and days of old,
But theres no england now.
All the wars that were won and lost
Somehow dont seem to matter very much anymore.
All the lies we were told,
All the lies of the people running round,
Theyre castles have burned.
Now I see change,
But inside were the same as we ever were.
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line,
Living this way, each day is a dream.
What am i, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Now another century nearly gone,
What are we gonna leave for the young?
What we couldnt do, what we wouldnt do,
Its a crime, but does it matter?
Does it matter much, does it matter much to you?
Does it ever really matter?
Yes, it really, really matters.
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Now another leader says
Break their hearts and break some heads.
Is there nothing we can say or do?
Blame the future on the past,
Always lost in blood and guts.
And when theyre gone, its me and you.
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Red River Voyageur
Out and in the river is winding
The links of its long, red chain,
Through belts of dusky pine-land
And gusty leagues of plain.
Only, at times, a smoke-wreath
With the drifting cloud-rack joins,-
The smoke of the hunting-lodges
Of the wild Assiniboins.
Drearily blows the north-wind
From the land of ice and snow;
The eyes that look are weary,
And heavy the hands that row.
And with one foot on the water,
And one upon the shore,
The Angel of Shadow gives warning
That day shall be no more.
Is it the clang of wild-geese?
Is it the Indian's yell,
That lends to the voice of the north-wind
The tones of a far-off bell?
The voyageur smiles as he listens
To the sound that grows apace;
Well he knows the vesper ringing
Of the bells of St. Boniface.
The bells of the Roman Mission,
That call from their turrets twain,
To the boatman on the river,
To the hunter on the plain!
Even so in our mortal journey
The bitter north-winds blow,
And thus upon life's Red River
Our hearts, as oarsmen, row.
And when the Angel of Shadow
Rests his feet on wave and shore,
And our eyes grow dim with watching
And our hearts faint at the oar,
Happy is he who heareth
The signal of his release
In the bells of the Holy City,
The chimes of eternal peace!
poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A people without history is like wind on the buffalo grass. Sioux
American Indian proverbs
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Stand in The Rain
She stands bellow the tree,
As she looks out towards the sea.
Her eyes see the blue, yet her mind is lost,
It has left her on it's journey remembering what it lost.
The breeze blows though her dark crimson hair,
And still she does not blink, she only stares.
She stares though nothing only seeing pain,
The pain that has left her standing in the rain.
The rain falls around her on the sea,
Yet still she stands under the tree,
It will not leave her, it will not go,
What she has seen will never go,
She will always remain alone,
She remains in the wind as it moans,
She feels movement of the air,
Yet she does not hear it, she does not fear,
Se fears not the storm, only the pain,
She stands by the side of the sea, stands in the rain.
She stands here, still,
As the pain begons to kill.
She stands and looks past her heart through the pain,
As she stands in the rain.
poem by Bethany Maxwell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Shadowlands
The Shadow-lands are here about,
hidden from even the most devout.
There those who were, then ceased to be,
enjoy post mortem revelry.
Their ghostly visage sight unseen
by downcast kin that sob and keen.
They linger but a moment, then.
they head off to the shadow-lands.
There they are young and strong and free,
much more than simple memories.
When their earthy foibles are recalled
they laugh hardest of us all.
They’re close whenever called to mind;
The shadow folk are calm and kind.
For they who were, then ceased to be,
well know what mortals fail to see.
Only they can understand
who’ve traveled to the shadow-lands.
poem by John F. McCullagh
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Eagle Eyed Croupier - Parody Alfred TENNYSON – The Eagle
He spins cooked wheel with crookèd hands,
close[d]) to true sum in sunny lands,
ring’d by a green baize world, he stands.
“Les jeux sonts faits…! ” he often calls,
wry, watches stakes increase till falls
Fate's rich ball, stalled, which naught recalls.
for previous version see below
The Eagle Eyed Croupier - Parody Alfred TENNYSON – The Eagle
He spins the wheel with crookèd hands,
close to the sum in sunny lands,
ring’d with a verdant world, he stands.
“Les jeux sonts faits…! ” he often calls,
he watches stakes mount up till falls
the ball of Fate which naught recalls.
17 December 1991
poem by Jonathan Robin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Still There
Across the plains and grassy fields
Under skies of blue
The memories will rest forever
Eternally residing there
Memories of battles fought
Memories of love and lives
Will always be there
Etched into what remains
Ruins and pondered mysteries lie still
Like words written long ago
Silent whispers echo throughout the ages
Ungulating so thin
Its almost mere nothingness
But it is there
Even when we are long gone
What we did will still be there
poem by Autumn Winds
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Heart Of The Flower
Now at the station, the train to another land
Lands of never seen light, light hidden in infinite night
Night in its biggest might, might of the strongest power
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
The waiting room of kingdom come, I look back upon my life
Life of loss but now the end
End of rat race overdrive
Overdrive to foreign lands
Lands of contemptous hours
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
Now on the train
This is the end of my day
I feel my spirits escape like a musical clock thats dying away
I turn once again and wave my hand and say goodbye
I never thought its so easy
I never thought its so easy
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
The heart of the flower
The heart of the flower
The heart of the flower
Diamond/1990
song performed by by Alphaville
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Indian Outlaw
(tommy barnes/gene simmons/john d. loudermilk)
(track 6 - time 3:02)
Im an indian outlaw
Half cherokee and choctaw
My baby shes a chippewa
Shes one of a kind
All my friends call me bear claw
The village cheaftin is my paw-paw
He gets his orders from my maw-maw
She makes him walk the line
You can find me in my wigwam
Ill be beatin on my tom-tom
Pull out the pipe and smoke you some
Hey and pass it around
cause Im an indian outlaw
Half cherokee and choctaw
My baby shes a chippewa
Shes one of a kind
I aint lookin for trouble
We can ride my pony double
Make your little heart bubble
Lord like a glass of wine
I remember the medicine man
He caught runnin water in my hands
Drug me around by my headband
Said I wasnt her kind
cause Im an indian outlaw
Half cherokee and choctaw
My baby shes a chippewa
Shes one of a kind
I can kill a deer or buffalo
With just my arrow and my hickory bow
From a hundred yards dont you know
I do it all the time
They all gather round my teepee
Late at night tryin to catch a peek at me
In nothin but my buffalo briefs
I got em standin in line
cause Im an indian outlaw
Half cherokee and choctaw
My baby shes a chippewa
Shes one of a kind
Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die
song performed by by Tim McGraw
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Tenderly you come
tenderly you come
to touch the locks of hair
that rest there on the pillow
feathered in a dream
i sleep my silence long
two words for its spell
and no silence for a word
you touch my face and line it
up in warmth through glass
that stands there instead of window
sundialed roomed so spacious
i sleep my silence long
two words for its spell
and no silence for a word
you open eyes of a closure
'neath unfaithful sky
to write me there word cloudward
wipe me away or melt
in my sleep silence long
two words for its spell
and no silence for a word
poem by Miroslava Odalovic
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Skeletons In The Closet
Woah-oh, woah-oh
Skeletons in my closet
Woah-oh, woah-oh yeah
Skeletons in my closet
Skeletons in my closet
Skeletons in my shoes
Skeletons I can only see
I said woah-oh, woah-oh
I got skeletons in my closet
I said woah-oh, woah-oh yeah
Skeletons in my closet
Skeletons I can lose
Skeletons in my basement
Loitering on my streets
Wearing my best pajamas
Sandwiched between my sheets
I said woah-oh, woah-oh yeah
Skeletons in my closet
I said woah-oh, woah-oh yeah
Skeletons in my closet
Ooh, I see bones
I see bones, icy bones
Ooh, I see bones
Say say bones - say boys don't you see them bones?
Rattle them bones at midnight
Shaking my bed, no sleep
I find fingers in my coat pocket
Skeletons from the deep
I said woah-oh, woah-oh
I got skeletons in my closet
I said woah-oh, woah woah-oh
I got skeletons in my closet
Ooh, I see bones
I see bones, s-see bones
Ooh, I see bones
I see bones
Say boys don't you see them bones?
No?
Heart bones, leg bones, ankle bones, arm bones,
finger bones, dogie bones, head bones
Skeletons in my closet
They even know when I'm in my closet
It's my.. my closet
Not your closet
My closet
You can have it though
Alice we want you
Alice
Alice
A-Alice
What?
Whaddya want
song performed by by Alice Cooper
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Walk A Thin Line
Written by lindsey buckingham.
Ive seen so many things that made me wonder
But sometimes its hard to tell
I said
Take your time
But no one was listening
I walk a thin line
They told me that I never would recover
Still some say they knew me well
I said
Stay by my side
But no one said nothin
I walk a thin line
I said
Please toe the line
But no one was listening
I walk a thin line
I said
Fate takes time
But no one was listening
I walk a thin line.
song performed by by Fleetwood Mac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!