Ghost Dance

Rays of sunlight
stretch and lie
out across the grass
like children avoiding chores.

So where is Wovoka,
my father?
Teach me how to Ghost Dance
this fall before the spring.
I don’t care much for the hunt
or farming
so teach me how to dance
for peace and salvation
for when
the grass is high.
I’m old enough to learn.

The sunlight
stretches out across the grass
lying around and rolling about
like a child avoiding chores.
This winter
all the men will be buried
quiet under the new fresh soil
and next spring
the sweet grass
and streams
and trees
and dreams
and buffalo will return.

And all the children
will lie in the tall grass
and laugh
as they roll about
in circles
bellies full
avoiding chores.

And all who dance the Ghost Dance
will be taken up into the air
and suspended there
replaced by the young
lying in the sun
rolling about in the tall grass
playing with shadows
and dreaming dreams.