I AM

I am the universe

The universe is me

I am the future

The future is me

I am the present

The present is me

I am the past

The past is me

I am the blood

The blood is me

I end the feud

The feud ends with me

I am the music

The music is me

I am the ancient ones

The ancient ones are me

See the sun

See the moon

See the stars

I am them

They are me

Hear the river

It is me

Feel the wind

It breaths the ancestors

The ancestors are me

I sing the words

My blood knows the lyrics and the rhythm

I am the universe

The universe is me

A THOUSAND MORE

I was born the way I was born

And I was born the way I was born

I will celebrate that

And I celebrate that

I’ve lived a hundred lives

I will live a thousand more

I know you now

And I will know you then

New York to Canada to L.A.

We found each other along the way

New York to Canada to East L.A

And we’ll find each other again

My brother

My sister

I know your face

I feel your presence

You are in my waking dreams

If we haven’t met now

I will meet you then

I was born the way I was born

And I was born the way I was born

I will celebrate that

And I celebrate that

I’ve lived a hundred lives

I will live a thousand more

The hardship

The love

The laughing

The time spent thinking

Life, it could have been more

It could have been more

When it came time to leave our lands

It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last

The Earth knows where we have been

And our travels can make amends

To keep standing and not fall

I was born the way I was born

And I was born the way I was born

I will celebrate that

And I celebrate that

I’ve lived a hundred lives

I will live a thousand more

THE TIME

He is sleeping

(He is sleeping)

Don’t wake him up

(Don’t wake him up)

He tells me about his dreams

About the woman he has seen

And the mountain that he has climbed

And the stream that he has crossed

If I wake him

(If I wake him)

Then the story will be lost

He is sleeping

I won’t wake him up

But when night falls

And the stars are in the sky

Will I be in his memory

To be dreamt of while he rests

In my heart I do no different

In my thoughts I keep him alive

And the sleep that he enjoys now

Will not always be

He is sleeping

(He is sleeping)

Don’t wake him up

But if my time has come to join him

Will he welcome me in peace

I have woke him

I have woke him

Not intending to be unfair

But he felt my cry for help

And I thanked him just by being there

WOMANKIND

Am I closer to humanity?

I bleed.

Do I feel a little more?

I bleed.

Are my thoughts within the universe?

Will I see you, sense you because I give?

My blood leaves my body

Spills out into the world

Because I know the pain, the lust, the urges

More than man can even know or that he can ever, ever, ever experience.

I bleed.

My heart is tied to my gut.

I bleed.

I feel the earth within my being.

I bleed.

It returns to me two-fold.

Only now do I see

How it is that woman lives

A conduit for life

The platform for those who breath.

I bleed.

For you, for me, for those who have died.

My pain, my pleasure, my sorrow is a sign for all.

I bleed.

PLANTED

I am not politically correct

I stand with my feet planted in the earth

The water of a cold stream rushing past my knees,
up to my hips that I birthed this Nation from

Between the ancestral mountain and the mighty ocean

Beneath the greatness of thunder sky

And the brightness of the Fire King

The power of the luminaries

Calling out to the ancestors

The Creator of the Universe

How shall this day end

And that the night brings light for my path into tomorrow

And the day brings darkness

Hiding the true story of the People

TALKING STICK

We say our piece and I speak my truth

Let go and release, yield to yourself and to others

Our essence is passed between the walls of our life force

Change and metamorphosis for all

Telling stories and writing the future

Bringing life and vision

My heart burns with your meraki

Knowing I am forever new

I accept the talking stick from you

Please accept my message and welcome my thoughts

As I do

Hear what the grand council has to say

They plan and strategize for the nations and the small

The mighty look to what is not shiny for the answers

Do you answer the call

Stand up and take the talking stick

Say your piece

Bring your vision to the council and wear the belt of peace

We create and bring life to all that is new

Bringing energy and humble words

Laced with precision and sharp

Cutting through layers of old to reveal what is beneath

Shaping lives and what will soon be here

Opening to the very center and revealing a benevolent outcome

We say our piece and I speak my truth

I yield