Fire sparks in the black sky.
Red ashes. It is time for the return of light,
the kiva with its fire,
and also the church
with its one special saint.
Then, from the night,
dancers come out of the darkness,
from mystery, dancing with stick legs:
We are the deer,
with evergreen, elk horn tied with eagle down,
and the one with great heavy horns of old buffalo.
The women are brought to the center,
so serious. Oh, deer mothers,
how I want to stand with you
as the animals come through the snow,
down the great mountain, fresh from the woods.
Now, watching the forest dance,
the transformed bodies of human men and boys
with evergreen, antlers, grace,
the deer mothers in the center,
feathered and lovely,
in all their dignity protected,
we are back
through all time
remembered, reverence on the faces,
every single face, watching,
and this is the place we have always been,
we are the people,
we are the animals,
this is eternity.