Little Spirit Moon, Great Spirit Moon,
Bear Moon, and Snow Crust Moon
the four moons of winter
Sunrise
these coldest mornings of gelid moons
searing the horizon, slicing dawn from night
red-orange light captured on facets of ice crystals
that spin and glitter in the air, falling
to the caul of translucent marble
that covers Gichigami.
Beneath that frozen vastness
the lake world stirs with the earth
light diffused to the palest of golds
rouses spirits curled in sleep
on the valleyed lake floor; awake
they push with scaled claws and rise
these coldest mornings of gelid moons
their breath a song to the world above the ice
delicate inhalations
from the sliver of space between ice and lake
expel to white steam, sea smoke a silver mist
rising in vapor columns over the surface of the lake.
On the shore an old man lifts a hand
to the morning; the wind lifts tobacco from his palm,
scattering the offering in four directions
watching the song
gray white silver
drifting rolling across ice.
The song begins with spring
and the Creator who made the earth
streams rivers lakes oceans
grass plants flowers trees
the medicines the seasons
birds animals insects
and finally the first man,
born to the granddaughter of the moon.
Shimmering cold in summers of the past
the lake carried them weightless buoyant floating
sun glinting on wet scales and claws
on the shore they rested
against gabbrous rock heated by the sun,
this before rancor reached the world
before the Great Flood and finally redemption
and the retreat to the underwater,
the cold darkness of the valley a grace of sorts.
Since then, in early autumn
when skies reflect gentian waters of the lake
spirits rise with the tide, lured
by the colors of the hillside
water-blurred red orange yellow leaves
against the black of rocky cliffs
yet obliquely they gaze, cautiously
remembering the spirit who dazzled by the brilliance
drifted lost toward an inlet
where a young woman rowing alone
in a green-painted wooden boat
recoiled, her hair whitening.
Late-autumn ice forms and breaks
heavy on the surface of the lake
slowing the movements of the spirits
whose scales and claws
gray and dull starving for the sun
reach above Gichigami to grasp the wind
and on the shore waves collide
with rocks, trees
and fragilities built by man.
In winter, cold subdues the water surface;
nights, white ice reflects the winter moons
Little Spirit Moon, Great Spirit Moon,
Bear Moon, Snow Crust Moon
in their slow sail through the sky.
Sunrise sears the horizon,
slicing dawn from night
red-orange light captured on facets of ice crystals
that spin and glitter in the air, falling
to the caul of translucent marble ice
that covers Gichigami
descending to the valleyed lake floor,
rousing the spirits curled in sleep;
awakened they push with scaled claws
ascending toward the sun
these coldest mornings of gelid moons.
As one, then another, and others emerge
steam rises, fog glitters in the light
their breath a silver song
to the world above the ice.