Still I Sit

 

Still I sit,

While all around me moves,

Moon rising full in the sky, leafless treetops swaying in the cold December wind,

Bare branches speaking of leaves fallen to the ground,

Not long ago green and full of life, now brown and blown away, life and death passing,

Near me, with seed already dropped, empty-headed grasses quiver, as I begin to shiver,

Yet as daylight fades,

Still, I sit.

 

 

 

Luther Standing Bear (1868-1939) “The Lakota was a true naturalist – a lover of nature. He loved the earth and all things of the earth, the attachment growing with age. The old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.

That is why the old Indian STILL SITS upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer to kinship to other lives about him…

The old Lakota was wise. He know that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his youth close to its softening influence.”