WATER WILLOW

Water Willow, Ponca, Niobrara River, Nebraska, born 1833

“Certain trees, certain animals, certain birds, certain clouds,
are yours to keep- those you are born by.
The Willow, the horse, the ears up dog,
are my kind… I keep the ermine at my waist, and morning rain.
Willow talks to me, soothing.
There is no sadder tree, no better trunk, to cry on.
Her roots deep in sandy water, she drinks up tears,
and they flow through her.
So it always was with me,
Thíghe Niⁿ Uhóⁿgek^he Wiⁿ.
Water Willow.
I thought myself one of them, being so named Willow from birth.
And I was the Willow for my people.
If I had not been born there, then, under that tree, those stars –
only spirit knows –
I would never have been able to bend
to the times that were coming….
So I was – born under a twin red willow tree
on the west bank of the Niⁿshudé.
The sky was full of shooting stars,
showering in every direction, it is known.
Yes, I saw them- The changing stars that saw my way to earth.
I would say that birth is very much like seeing stars…
It was for me.

I landed among the people at the Beginning of cold weather,
on a cold, snow covered night.
Thíghe Niⁿ Uhóⁿgek^he Wiⁿ, they named me.
Water Willow
I was called.
You would have thought they’d name me for the stars…
But the stars are magic. Sacred.  Xúbe.
They…the stars … our ancestors, our babies, our unborn.
No.
Grandmother gave me the name of the Tree.
And the tree, gave me its ears and voice.”

Water Willow’s Dream (c) BSalvatore