Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE TO THE SPIRIT OF SITTING-BULL, by                    
First Line: Tatanka yotanka!
Last Line: As does the sun above their sentry-peaks.


I

Tatanka Yotanka!
Persistent genius, when maligned
With words untrue and most unkind,
With wisdom that philosopher would show,
You made no compromise with friend or foe:
But most astutely strove,
That future kin might rove
Forever free upon these plains,
To vindicate the stolen gains.
The iron courage ever lived by you
Inspires our race today as well as Sioux.

II

Obscure and lonely is your grave
Where tangled weeds and grasses wave:
A hallowed spot, for Manito can see
And understand your selfless loyalty.
White men demean your name,
(This we admit with shame)
'Twas they, not you, who did the wrong;
With food and arms to make them strong
They made you fight with back against the wall,
A warrior brave, until the last great call.

III

For many moons you rode the chilling waste, when seared and brown,
To chase the thundering buffalo, or run the coyote down;
You went adventuring
In this wild opening;
Then west you scaled the buttes where bighorns played,
Or on some gentle slope
Among the antelope
You mocked the wolves, and panther-like you stayed
Beside a grizzly's path until he came.
Such noble pride as yours, what men could tame?

IV

Tatanka, fold your tent and rest
To dream of campfires in the west,
No more reflected in the streams or rills
That flow through these Black-Wonderland-of-Hills:
Here in this red-men's land,
Where circling knolls of sand
Have guarded well for years untold
Its wealth of beauty and of gold,
Your spirit burns in silent, flaming streaks,
As does the sun above their sentry-peaks.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net