Poetry and Other Writings

It is good to keep the promises we make to ourselves to enjoy a peaceful
hour. How long has it been? How long has it been since we walked on a
grassy hillside and watched the shadows hover and move? Walking is good
for the legs - but it does wonders for the soul. The autumn season is
one of the best times to walk and think. There is a rhythm in the earth
that rises into our feet when we walk. In it is the healing and it
centers the soul so that the cares of the world cannot get in to destroy
peace. And peace has so many side effects. It restores youth and gives
perspective to a world-weary mind.

~ The Great Spirit made these mountains and rivers for us, and all this
land. ~
BLACKFOOT - CROW, 1850's

'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Things have a way of growing out of bounds in the dark of thought. But
we can control them by easing them out gently, the way steam escapes the
kettle. The worst thing is to feed more fuel into our emotions than we
can handle. Turn off the heat and the pressure will ease. Lay blame
aside - especially self-blame. You can't do any good if you are dwelling
on what went wrong. Forgive yourself and others. Nothing removes the
blocks like forgiving. This is survival time and no injustice should be
harbored. Make a new beginning and don't stop until it is done. You will
know when that is.

~ The Great Spirit has heard me, and he knows I have spoken the truth. ~
KEOKUK - SAC AND FOX

['A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler]

Pressure destroys some people and helps others rally to do their best.
One seeks peace and order and another heads toward noise and chaos. A
little of both keeps us on our toes, but it means we have to have good
judgment. Peace is necessary - even under pressure. Like the rhythm of
the sea, we rise to high tide and relax back to calm. No different from
inhaling and exhaling, we are created to keep the balance.

*Daily Feast*

The path to the woods is soft and silent underfoot. Wet leaves pad the
ground beneath the trees and bright patches of green moss cover every
rock. Many plants in sheltered places thrive even now. This place is
sweet solitude-but never silent. Twittering birds have moved in for the
winter and the red and blue of the cardinals and blue jays color the
darkening woods. Time hangs between autumn and winter in mellow breezes
and a few bright yellow sunflowers. It is a pensive time, a time to
reflect and let go and enjoy.

'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

If you argue with stupid reasoning you end up being stupid. Expressing
an opinion can run you out of bounds and into areas that are not yours
to argue. And no one has any business matching wits with someone who
hasn't a notion of honor. Consider what good can possibly come from a
heated debate with someone who is in it for the argument alone. When
there is noise and insult, the reason is weak. Someone said ignorance is
behind every argument - but let's not let it be ours

~~~' A Cherokee Feast of Days, ' Vol. II, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler~~~

In retrospect, we have ignored common sense in favor of doing what we
wanted to do. We wish we had not done it, but we said what we wanted to
say, spoke out when it would have been better to stay quiet - we have
overruled our common sense. Looking back again, when did we get off
track? What little thing stung us into action? If we learn to hear the
voice of wisdom we can overcome our foolishness. Wisdom never lets us
down, but ignoring it will put away from us the best friend we can have.

~ I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. ~

CHIEF JOSEPH - NEZ PERCE

'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Some of us have kindred souls that understand what we feel, what we
think, and what we need. These special people seldom bother with a lot
of talk - but their quiet companionship is balm to the spirit and enough
without words. Wherever we are on the pathway - the Cherokee calls it ga
lo hi s di - one of these special persons has known loneliness, felt the
solitary hours, heard the empty echoes, and is there to mark the way for
us. We are assured of company, told that we will make it - that we are
almost there now. Suddenly there is a corner to turn, a light to shine,
hope and a hand to support us. Then, in quiet communication, we reach
back and take someone else's hand.

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There are in every life both sunshine people and rainy-day people. There are giving people and there are those who take, but how so few in number are those who understand. To have someone understand why we cry or laugh, why we feel downcast for no apparent reason, is to have a friend. A friend accepts our changes of mood without telling us to snap out of it. They know if we could so easily handle tears we would have done it already. All our loneliness and worry and fear seems to fade in the presence of a friend who never judges but stands alongside with loyalty. "My u na li, take my hand and walk with me until you can go alone." It gives us what we need to be a friend as well.

~ We shall not fail....to nourish your hearts....about the renewal of our amity and the brightening of the Chain of Friendship. ~

CANASSATEGO, 1742

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Throughout our lives we contact many people, and they each leave an impression. As living continues the combination of all those thoughts and feelings and actions forms our opinions, our likes and dislikes, our fears and our loves. But there is one basic factor in all of this that turns us one way or other - the individual, the personal self. It is how we take life, what we expect, how we do our daily tasks, where we place our values that makes the difference.

~~'THINK on THESE THINGS' By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The earth is too small for all the lonely people to have missed each other so completely. But the voice of loneliness seems to persist and deepen with every hour. The Cherokee elder teaches the young person, "Learn to know and like yourself. Learn to be your own best friend." Learn the art of enjoyable solitude - of having lunch with yourself and being comfortable about it. A person alone is unique. A lonely person shows it in his haunted stare. Sometimes loneliness comes because we have not made room for anyone else. We need to stretch out beyond our boundaries, step out of familiar territory, stop nursing emptiness and self-indulgence. Loneliness is looking for something to fill a void. Joy is expanding so that others want to share our lives.

"The hearts of little children are pure, and therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss."

--Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) OGLALA LAKOTA

"Times change but principles don't. Times change but lands do not. Times
change but our culture and our language remain the same. And that's what
you have to keep intact. It's not what you wear - it's what's in your
heart."

--Oren Lyons, ONONDAGA

The sights and sounds and fragrances of the countryside are extraordinary after a summer rain. Wildflowers and morning glories profusely spread along the fence rows - and the bittersweet has orange berries popping out of little hills. It is a tranquil time, a time to catch the scent of petunias heavy on the evening air. It is something that will be repeated over and over for as long as we can remember. Early morning brings the sweet call of the quail and the cries of a killdeer doing wheelies over the meadows. Speak these things and remember them, because it centers the soul like nothing else on earth.

~~A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

~~If something is worth having, it is worth waiting for, worth working toward. But fear of losing something before we have had a chance to make it our own can stir us to take risks that are often unwise. Insecurity makes us react in plain-speaking ways that cause us to lose the very thing we want to keep.~~

~author unknown~

"The prairie is large and good, and so are the heavens above, and I do not want them stained by the blood of war."

--Satanta, Kiowa Chief--

What have we of life's beautiful things?

A rainbow's shimmering hues when a shower has ended?

A warm brown puppy in the sunlight?

A mockingbird singing while a thin veil of clouds is drawn like misty curtains across the face of the moon; a playhouse where string is stretched from tree to tree to shut out invaders; children's laughter and the fluttering of bird wings in a tiny flowering stream?

The best of beautiful things are still free.

They are bits and pieces of joyful things that become part of us - a child in a field of daisies, a friendly hand, a smile, a whispered prayer.

What are we that is not a fragment from a past happiness - a moment in peace?

*Author Unknown*

"I believe much trouble and blood
would be saved if we opened our hearts more."

--Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE

Nothing stays impossible when hope emerges from a remote chance to a
clear-cut burning desire that is so complete in detail the mind accepts
it as real. Wishing and expecting are as different as the thorny vine
and the fragile fern. Don't let a living soul keep you from the mental
picture that your dream is coming true. It can either be wishful
thinking or it can be eager expectation. Expectation has every detail
memorized and ready. Hoping and wishing is waiting and waiting and
waiting.

 ~~author unknown~~

Like a pebble thrown into water, our thoughts ripple out, and when they
have reached the far shore they ripple back bringing a little of
whatever we sent out. Caution is needed in sending out messages. Right
responses depend on it, and if nothing is said at all we tend to fill in
what we think they are saying. Nothing to prove it - and nothing to calm
our fears. Never leave a void; never leave someone in the dark about how
you think. But do it gently - because what we send out ripples back to
us.

~~author unknown~~

~Teach us the road to travel, and we will not depart from it
forever.~

--Satank
Kiowa, 1810-1871

The Kiowa braves have grown up from childhood,
obtaining their medicine from the earth.

--Satanta
Kiowa 1830-1878

~ The many moons and sunny days we have lived here will long be remembered by us. ~

KEOKUK - SAUK LEADER, 1780

"It can be 100 degrees in the shade one afternoon and suddenly there comes a storm with hailstones as big as golf balls, the prairie is all white and your teeth chatter. That's good-a reminder that you are just a small particle of nature, not so powerful as you think."

--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

"If one does not feel the joy or pain in his Brothers or Sisters, they have lost the eye sight to the heart".

~~author unknown~~

Lose your temper and you lose a friend;
Lie and you lose yourself.

--Hopi

Go Forward With Courage

When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
When doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.
So long as mists envelop you, be still;
Be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists
-- as it surely will.
Then act with courage.

Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800's to 1914)

~ Did you know that trees talk? Well they do. They talk to each other, and they'll talk to you if you listen. ~

WALKING BUFFALO - STONEY, 1800's

Deep wounds have been healed because someone cared enough to be patient and show kindness. How many times the pattern of our days has changed because someone comforted us instead of criticizing. Gentleness is good to recall when someone close to us does something wrong. Why wound when we can heal? Love does not tell us we are stupid but that we made a mistake and we're standing together until it passes. Security comes from knowing love like this. And if the bonding is weak the first time - try it again.

~~author unknown

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the winter time.

It is the breath of the buffalo in the winter time.

It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

~ Crowfoot, Blackfoot chief, on his deathbed in 1890 ~

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

--Chief Seattle
1785-1866

"Behold, my bothers, the spring has come; the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love!"

--Sitting Bull, SIOUX

A long trail of experience can tire us to the bone - but given the right attitude they can refine us as well. Our difficulties may not be cherished memories but they will create a deeper understanding to serve a purpose. Nothing tests a person's mettle like standing firm when it would be easy to collapse. Nothing drains power like hindsight - but this is the important time to put things past in the past. Like the baby chick which pecks its way out of the shell to get its strength to stand, we feel the strain to know what we can do. The things that try us make us strong.

author unknown