O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Alone in frozen fields of winter grass
waiting to thaw
Crisp winds deliver dead smell
through nostrils crusted with
icicles of old air and mucus
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Tired, broken
waiting for the White Hunter
the White Wolf
the one who only comes
for the skin
and leaves your meat and bones
to whither and decay
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
When you are gone
the Red Hunter will go hungry…
Remember the Red One?
The one who prayed
before stalking you?
The one who, after killing you,
wept and thanked the sky?
The one who fed his children
with the fruit of your meat?
The one who covered his home
with the tough warmth of your hide?
The one who built his world
with tools carved from your bones?
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Give my love
the heart of
the Red Hunter
Let my love
lie next to me
with a prayer before the kiss
Tell my love
to weep and thank the sky
after I die in her
Show my love
how to feed her children
with the fruit of my meat
Bless my love
so she may cover
her house with the warmth of my skin
Inspire my love
to build her world
with the tools of my bones.
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Tell my love and all of the world:
Love is like the sun,
be like the moon
and fall into it
in the morning
After all,
“The proof of the sun
is the sun
If you require proof,
Do not turn away.”
Alone in frozen fields of winter grass
waiting to thaw
Crisp winds deliver dead smell
through nostrils crusted with
icicles of old air and mucus
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Tired, broken
waiting for the White Hunter
the White Wolf
the one who only comes
for the skin
and leaves your meat and bones
to whither and decay
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
When you are gone
the Red Hunter will go hungry…
Remember the Red One?
The one who prayed
before stalking you?
The one who, after killing you,
wept and thanked the sky?
The one who fed his children
with the fruit of your meat?
The one who covered his home
with the tough warmth of your hide?
The one who built his world
with tools carved from your bones?
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Give my love
the heart of
the Red Hunter
Let my love
lie next to me
with a prayer before the kiss
Tell my love
to weep and thank the sky
after I die in her
Show my love
how to feed her children
with the fruit of my meat
Bless my love
so she may cover
her house with the warmth of my skin
Inspire my love
to build her world
with the tools of my bones.
O Tatanka, My Tatanka
Tell my love and all of the world:
Love is like the sun,
be like the moon
and fall into it
in the morning
After all,
“The proof of the sun
is the sun
If you require proof,
Do not turn away.”