April 17, 2020
365: Peace Path
April 17, 2020
365: Peace Path
Peace Path
by Heid E. Erdrich
This path our people walked one hundred two hundred endless years since the tall grass opened for us and we breathed the incense that sun on prairie offers to sky Peace offering with each breath each footstep out of woods to grasslands plotted with history removal remediation restoration Peace flag of fringed prairie orchid green glow within white froth calling a moth who nightly seeks the now-rare scent invisible to us invisible history of this place where our great-grandfather a boy beside two priests and 900 warriors gaze intent in an 1870 photo his garments white as orchids Peace flag white banner with red cross crowned with thorns held by a boy at the elbow of a priest beside Ojibwe warriors beside Dakota warriors Peace offered after smoke and dance and Ojibwe gifts of elaborate beaded garments thrown back in refusal by Dakota Warriors torn with grief since their brother’s murder This is the path our people ran through white flags of prairie plants Ojibwe calling Dakota back to sign one last and unbroken treaty Peace offering with each breath each footstep out of woods to grasslands plotted with history removal remediation restoration Two Dakota held up as great men humbled themselves to an offer of peace before a long walk south before our people entered the trail walking west and north where you walk now where we seek the source the now-rare scent invisible as history history the tall grass opens for us Breathe the incense of sun on prairie Offer peace to the sky
Used by permission of the poet.