In honor of the International Day of the World's 
Indigenous Peoples

A Gathering of Understanding
by Michael Doyle

The time has come for the Red Nations to rise
Again, and bring healing before the world's eyes
With promised blessings that will cure the separations
By and between this sick world's crippled nations

Gathering the peoples from the darkest corners of night
And sharing the Creator's gifts of hope and light
The Great Spirit walks the lands with integrity
As the First Nations bring the ways of reciprocity 

Memories linger, born from fields that were once green
And loving families  gather their stories and glory seen
That was taken away from them along with traditions
That will be learned again with gratitude and intention

Indigenous peoples have fed the best of the world's nations
Though suffering colonization that led to their starvation
Regaining food sovereignty will help escape this violence
That once came against the natives with overwhelming prevalence

The white man willfully destroyed the vast buffalo economy
Taking with it the physical, mental, and spiritual liberty
Teaching that when a people's food crumbles and disappears
So does the people once fed as genocide teaches and sears

To take back the ways of the past will bring the resilience
And bring forward independence through self-reliance
As we enjoy the five star foods that come from the land
And bring the healing only the wisest leaders will understand

Helping one another has its simple but honest importance
That is bittersweet and should be obvious with a glance
The health of all peoples depends on sharing not chance
So it is, in the world and universe's continuous dance

The native blood in my veins is more than legacy
It is hope laced with the bits of undeserved tragedy 
Still, the time has come under the earth's blue skies
To come together, as again he First Nations start to rise

There is a spark visible inside our deep brown eyes
As we dare to live the dream that never really dies
The buffalo and its people will take their home again
Given as the gifts of the Creator 

(c) October 6, 2023   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved