Tag: hunt

So It Came (part XV) (day 3187)

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(part XIV)

But there were still people
Who roamed outside of Safety.
They were the sinners
The witches
The vegabonds
The immoral
They were hunted
And killed upon sight
For it was Fearful
To look them in them in the eye.
They existed as people had existed
Long before Fear had set in
To the hearts of the Fearful.
They hunted for food
That ran wild in more quantity
They grew their own food
In the dirt that crawled
With worms and beetles
Maggots and flies.
They made friends with dogs
And sang to birds
But to be sure they were unsafe
For they were outside of Safety.

(part XVI)

Singing (day 3058)

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I am trying to get it to sing to me
Willing it with my mind
And even as I sit here calm
I wonder how long it will remain.

No sound do I dare make
For fear that it should be startled
On its mind, no doubt instinctual
Hunting for its food.

I listen to the night sky pass
My heart and orbs of light
My mind full of nature’s song
I hope it will remain.

Moon at Midnight – Part XXXXXXIX (day 2043)

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(part XXXXXXVIII)

For three days we hunted
And for three days we found nothing
That would serve as any kind of sustenance
We of course found plenty of squirrels
And small birds to feed us
But deer, elk, buffalo, moose…
Nothing.

I woke up on the morning of the fourth day
Feeling like I had been charged with bolt of lightening
Awake from a dream that had left me silent all morning
As we packed up and prepared to break camp
Moon Cow came over and looked at my arrows
And asked if I was alright
I said yes, I’ve never felt better
And he asked about my dream
Moon Cow always had a sense about these kind of things
I think that’s part of the medicine man in him.

“When I was young
My mother used to come into my room
In the early hours of the day
And tell me that my father had just left again
She would cry to me
And I was..
Hardly able to understand what that meant
But her crying
Would alert me, and wake me up
And I would feel like I had to protect her
I was responsible for her
An assumed set of duties
That charged me with purpose
You should have seen me
Walking down the street
With two cents in my pocket
Going to buy the daily bread and a paper for mom
I’d say hi to all the folks I knew
And they’d smile back at me
Knowing and seeing the determination in my eyes
The responsibility I had in my shoes
They knew my father
Some would even stuff a nickle
Into my well worn pockets
I’d smile and say: ‘thank you m’am’
And charge off on my way
When I’d return home
Mother would be waiting with a broom
For the paper to devour
With the hopes she would find something better
For herself and me, I guess
In my dream I remembered my determination
For a better tomorrow
The perseverance that was required of me
I feel it now
And it makes me think about the future.

part XXXXXXX

Moon at Midnight – Part XXXXXXVIII (day 2042)

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(part XXXXXXVII)

After seven full days of talks
Mountain Chief decided that we would stay where we were
And let the White Man’s determination
Determine our future
Our hopes were that we would remain safe
Where we were, uninvolved
But I knew that they would eventually come looking for us
However, I knew it would be more peaceful if we stayed out
Of the wars that were happening
Everywhere upon these lands, apparently.

It was also made known to everybody
The dangers of keeping U.S. Army enemies
That is, members of other tribes on the run
In our own homes
As the U.S. Army would most likely
Come looking for them
It was also made known that some of the men
Would be going off to help
Some of the other tribes
This caused tension
About whether or not Mountain Chief would allow back
Any man that went away to fight
But eventually Mountain Chief decided the right thing
And said those who decided to fight
Would always be welcome by his fire
Seven men with family in other tribes
Left after two days preparing,
After much ceremony,
And all for us returned to our usual simple life
In our mountain valley.

Moon Cow and I talked about going on a hunt
So we asked Long Arrow and Runs Wild,
Mercy’s man and eldest child,
To see if they wanted to come hunt with us
They of course were always eager
So we left after a day of preparations
Happy to be wild and free again
Searching through the forest
Using our instinct and skill guide us.

part XXXXXXIX

Moon at Midnight – Part XXXIX (day 2013)

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(part XXXVIII)

When the hunting party returned
They knew something was wrong immediately
And came right to me
I told what had happened
And also what I had learned from some of the family
I had been talking to in the village
Who were there when it happened
When Mountain Chief heard
What Tall Pine and I had done
He pulled from his headpiece
Two eagle feathers
And honoured each of us with one.

Most of the damage had already been fixed
Prior to the men returning
So we all kept ourselves busy with
Smoking and curing the meat
A very necessary task for the upcoming winter
They had returned with sufficient supply
That we were all fairly confident
There would be no shortage of food this winter.

For two days we had a grieving ceremony
And it was very sad to watch those who were very close
To those who had been killed, mourn
But as a community, as a family
We were all there to help them, to support them
To give our own offerings.

I took Tall Pine along with Moon Cow and I
As we went on a hunt of our own
With our bows across our backs
We set off to the East
To see if we could find some grazing animals
Still exposed, unprepared for the coming months
We had a rough idea to head towards
Amy and Frank, as Moon Cow also knew them
And was wondering how they were doing.

By the end of the first day
We hadn’t found anything,
But had fresh tracks of many smaller animals
Mostly rabbits and pheasants
So we were able to feed ourselves
But nothing to bring home
We woke early the second morning
And were off at daylight.

part XXXX