"Plains Woodland Scene" by Martin Pate. It is based on archaeological work commissioned
by F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
"Plains Woodland Scene" by Martin Pate. It is based on archaeological work commissioned
by F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
Strong Medicine
Mottled shades of brown, you are the colors of the prairie
The day I found you and carelessly lifted you
From your centuries-old resting place on Mother Earth,
From your solitude…from your past.
Mute, hidden amongst buffalo grass and sage,
Your mission realized in that fleeting moment,
A simple stone laid naked by my prying fingers,
Raising questions where before there were none.
Who laid you here…before Montana…on this sun-baked prairie?
A woman, now faded into the swirling mists of Time,
No doubt found you appealing and useful enough
To carry you with worn brown hands
And carefully place you to anchor her modest tipi home.
Whose home…whose shelter…at this quiet, lonely place?
You hint that Cheyenne or Arapahoe stopped here:
Father…mother…children…laughing, loving, living,
Awaiting dawn and the hunt of nearby buffalo,
Feeding upwind in the spring-fed marshy creek bottom.
Were you there for the hunter’s triumphant return,
Bloodied with haunches of fresh kill for the evening feast,
And the retelling of the old stories of glory days and other hunts,
As the Spirits weave in and out…in and out
Of the smoke and shadows from a dying campfire?
Or, was it flight from an approaching and uncertain destiny,
Where The People, like tethered eagles, live on reservations,
Their pride, like the great herds of buffalo, driven
To the very edge of extinction
At the hands of white men like me?
A heaviness weighs on me, and I struggle with the words inadequate
To imagine and tell the enormity of your story,
And I am overcome at how a woman and a man,
Separated by more than years, yet now forever joined in Life’s circle,
Came to hold you in their hands.
Your silence, so resolute and impassive, counts coup, and I surrender;
Your medicine is stronger than mine.
© Roger L. Traweek
November 30, 2006
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Roger L. Traweek
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April, 2007 I wrote this poem awhile back about a stone from a tipi ring that was found on my ranch in Montana. It's a bit different (free verse) from my usual style, but it seemed to fit this story OK. Hope you like it. . . . . I draw from the memories of my childhood on the family ranch which my brother and I still own, and that has been in our family for more than 100 years Roger Traweek |
| Roger Traweek is one of those
talented poets who can write a witty humorous verse,
and then with the next stroke of his pen, turn out a memorable
piece of first rate poetry. (You can read a sample of his
verse and poetry along with his bio...a click of the mouse'll take you there:
Angus McTavish and
the Saskatoon Lonely Hearts Club and when you're through
reading this, go to
Requiem and
The Homeplace .) This page further illustrates the breadth of his
talent....a free verse so effective that even people like me (who don't
usually like free verse) are captivated by it.
Wacobelle Productions is privileged to feature the free form poetry of Roger Traweek
- "Strong Medicine".
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