Divided States

April 25, 1973. 30,000 feet over Wounded Knee, Douth Dakota, enroute to Nancy, France, World Theater Festival, The United Nations at Geneva, and the World Court of Justice at LaHaye, with a message:

"America, stop killing our people at wounded Knee and relinquish their homeland to the Pit River people."

THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA

My spirit looked down through clouds of time
upon the land of my people
and there was a deepness within all that there is
a silence that did not know peace

For there was our Mother Earth
from great waters in east where sun looks over world
to great salt waters where sun rests and darkness is everywhere
even between the stars

Vast the land
in agony
For Americans have poured filth upon our homeland
the earth of my people
The turtle island of our dreams

Americans hiss through fangs.
"United," "peace," "honor," "democracy." "freedom."

But as my spirit looked
with long eyes upon earth
silence again grew great within my being
for this is what there is,

Ni'lladu'wi (wanderers) have separated earth saying it is "united"
They have severed the separated land, saying again, United States
They have attacked this as with a knife
saying, "Counties of the United States"

within all this
Americans build gnarled houses
and when they gather to eat
the fruits of beautiful Mother Earth.
Americans are separated one from the other
farther, still

The separation and division gives americans no happiness
for they also divide the hearts of my people
and long to own the whole world

Too often they think with gnarled reasoning
and dreams made foul by coveting,
that killing my people is good
for it is a glory to their angry God
of iron words sounding like chains ratteling

My spirit muttered in fury,

"There, upon the earth of my people
in angry uneasiness
is the DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA!"

Returning to the earth of my people
in haste I demanded "why?" of Grandmother

In the closing of day
as geese called softly across slumbering Qatsade (Fall River Valley)
she spoke, saying

"It is because they have
no place to rest their terrified spirits.

"Now is the ripe season to unite
all that has been divided

"We must!
only by so doing
shall we stop the killing of our children
by the Americans some day."

Sul'ma'ejote