Bird Woman Goes to the Ocean

Woman-bird-child

too small to carry

the dreams of a clumsy giant

She gathers berries by the river

close to home

where each stream knows her voice

and the wind lifts her song

high in the sacred mountains

Here she knows the name

of every peak and pass

has learned the medicine

of each being on earth

knows healing wisdom

taught by the grandmothers

Pouncing like a hawk on its prey

destiny swoops in whooping

on flying hooves from a far camp

and a bird too small

is unable to escape

greater things that overtake her life

Forged in fires of fierce living

in a land as big as the sky

her wings powerful

her spirit steeped in ancient wisdom

She is carried captive

over new horizons

far from the life she was born to

into eastern lands

where the river flows wide

and muddy slow across rolling plains

adopted into the family fabric

of her Mandan captors

her destiny not done yet

A new nation comes to call

asks her to lead men

across high mountains

to a great sea and home again

teenage wife and new mother

She is emissary 

interpreter 

caretaker

symbol of peace

Sacagawea