Send me to fork-topped tree that I can swaddle.
Let me strip branches, like anointing body of beloved,
crown it with Creator’s gift of feast and eagle wing
and I shall raise it as center of my earth for these eight days..
I have prepared, my father, for years, for this exquisite time;
Practiced these steps in dreams like dance of visions,
taught and trained myself to accept pain for purpose.
I have fasted and gone without water to learn how
to defy my human needs.
I offer this flesh of your flesh back to you, so I might be reborn
with forced freedom from leather thongs
to sip mint tea and tell my visions that come from Sun,
from deprivation of earthly and not fall faint.
Let me see and remember what I was shown
in spiral of my dance, push and pull back to tear flesh
for family of God, for my people, for my kin, for myself.
Let blood flow to show my integrity in this pact.
After four days of dance, and care by those I choose,
to nurse me, to pray for me, during my suffering,
let sage be dampened to cool my heated desire for prayer’s answer.
As I suck on sweet-soaked cloth, to unseal lips cracked
from pinch against cry, and sing song given to me.
I shall rise, weakened by my vow and promise I give
before you intercede on our behalf. I have not just done this
for me and mine, but for past and present and future nations.
Let marks I wear inspire others to know a true and sun-filled way.
Author notes
The Sun Dance last from four to eight days starting at the sunset of the final day of preparation and ending at sunset. It showed a continuity between life and death - a regeneration. It shows that there is no true end to life, but a cycle of symbolic and true deaths and rebirths. All of nature is intertwined and dependent on one another. This gives an equal ground to everything on the Earth.
The Native American tribes who practiced sun dance were:
The Arapaho, Arikara, Asbinboine, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros, Ventre, Hidutsa, Sioux, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibway, Sarasi, Omaha, Ponca, Ute, Shoshone, Kiowa, and Blackfoot tribes. Their rituals varied from tribe to tribe.
The sun dance was the major communal religious ceremony - the rite celebrates renewal - the spiritual rebirth of participants and their relatives as well as the regeneration of the living Earth with all its components - the ritual, involving sacrifice and supplication to insure harmony between all living beings, continues to be practiced by many contemporary native Americans.
The proper purposes for undertaking the Sun Dance are:--
1. To fulfill a vow.
2. To secure aid for another.
3. To secure aid for self.
4. To secure powers for self.
In a list
A contest entry
- solstice by Matt Holck.
300 points, ended June 24, 2007, 6 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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wow that's very powerful
I didn't know they were dancing till you explained
I get the idea of a stoic ritual the separate the conscious from the body
by denial to be controlled by suffering
and acceptance of that suffering
I am glad you showed me this poem.
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This is an impressive poem in the telling of history with such beautiful detail, especially the nursing part. Ritual serves a purpose in our lives; reminding us of what is sacred, marking passage to adulthood. It reveals what is most noble in us.
Beautifully rendered.
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Ouch!
Very Earth worthy poem here. But OUCH! The lack of water and food Ok. But flesh of my chest pulled by a tree forget it. Getting hit in the head by the big pine was enough. Thanks for the history lesson. Grandmother told me as a child of her family blood with some Arapaho and Micmac and French. Every so often a kickback child will be born in the family. Nice skin tones and cheek bones.
Thanks again for your sharing of knowledge. Great poem I wish well in the contest.
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what a revealing and wonderful poem here, like pulling back a curtain to uncover a mystery; knowledge here is so impressive...so very well done...PK
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The poem can be no longer than 20 lines
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"let sage be dampened to cool my heated desire for prayer’s answer.
As I suck on sweet-soaked cloth, to unseal lips cracked
from pinch against cry, and sing song given to me."
Wow...incredible penning, my Friend. A wonderfully educational piece, overflowing with such rich history. I had heard of this sacred ritual, but didn't know the specifics behind it. Good luck in the contest, Sweetie. 
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