The Ojibwe people believed that creation was the vision and dream of
'The Great Spirit'. When their young ponder over life and nature and asked
questions, the old people
gave their answers by weaving stories, songs and prayers.
Who gave to me
The breath of Life
My frame of flesh?
Who gave to me
The beat of heart
My vision to behold
Who?
When to Rose the gift
Of shade, of beauty
And grace of form?
When to Pine the gift
Of mystery of growth
The power to heal
When?
How to Bear the gift
Of sense of time
A place of wintering?
How to Eagle came the gift
Of glance of love
The flash of rage?
How?
Who gave to Sun
His light to burn
His path to tread?
Who gave to Earth
Her greening bounty
Cycles of her being?
Who?
Who gave to us
The gifts we do not own
But borrow and pass on?
Who made us one?
Who set the Path of Source?
Who carved the Land of Peace?
Who?
- Ojibwe poem (from a book by Canadian Aboriginal author Basil Johnston)
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| Ojibwe people on a birch bark canoe |
The breath of Life
My frame of flesh?
Who gave to me
The beat of heart
My vision to behold
Who?
When to Rose the gift
Of shade, of beauty
And grace of form?
When to Pine the gift
Of mystery of growth
The power to heal
When?
How to Bear the gift
Of sense of time
A place of wintering?
How to Eagle came the gift
Of glance of love
The flash of rage?
How?
Who gave to Sun
His light to burn
His path to tread?
Who gave to Earth
Her greening bounty
Cycles of her being?
Who?
Who gave to us
The gifts we do not own
But borrow and pass on?
Who made us one?
Who set the Path of Source?
Who carved the Land of Peace?
Who?
- Ojibwe poem (from a book by Canadian Aboriginal author Basil Johnston)
