Contents:

Mother's Answer ...by EARTHMTHR6@aol.com
Road of Many Colors ...by Randy R. Cox
A Dream ...by SvnoiWahya@aol.com
Caring Eagle ...by BLUElove7@aol.com
The Last Arrow ...by (JRP)
As Grandmother Sees Me ...by NAAHKITTY@aol.com

...by EARTHMTHR6@aol.com

Fear Not, said mother to those who have cried
  I have not lost my preciousness to you
    You will not do me in, it is not in the plan
	but just look what you have done to yourselves.

The tears that I cry are not of earth's pain
  They are that of a mother who loves
    It is seeing the carelessness of those who I nurtured
	of knowing what they have become.

Know this my dear children, I will evolve
  though mutation occurs, life survives
    But will what you have created sustain your existance
	Ask yourself if you can drink this slime.

I'll weep for you love, though the tears may be caustic
  I'll tremble as the mutations occur
    But yes I'll be here, and your life still is precious
	Will you see it as such, I'm not sure.

The choices you've made are done for this time
  You've more choices left before you
    You can continue to turn away in the arrogance of pride
	Or you can give up and and look to your future.

There is another option for you to remember
  if you think you can handle the challenge
    I will listen in hope, though I won't stop evolving
	The vision is yours, what's your answer?

Diane LeVan (Earthmthr6) 

Randy R. Cox

For a couple of days I've had some words bouncing around in my head. I'm not so sure where these words are going, but sometimes they take on a life and meaning of their own which is a real mystery to me. If they go in bad way I hope you will forgive me.

A long time ago a land was made to rise above the waters of the deep. Upon this land there became forests, and mountains, and plains, and deserts, and low grasslands. Creatures were made to scurry to and fro among these great and beautiful places of the land.

To make the way easier for the creatures as they moved their way from one end of the forest to the other, from one patch of grassland to the next, from the bottom of the mountains to the tops, roads came to be, and the walk of the creatures was good.

The roads of the forest were rich and dark in the color of the fertile soil beneath the shade of the towering trees. The ways to the tops of the mountains were of strong smooth stones of red for the red mountains and yellow for the yellow mountains. The paths through the grasslands high and low were a shining olive, the carpet of grass tramped smooth by the many feet of the moving creatures, and all was good as each road made its own circle through its appointed place.

And so it was for many thousands of years, the creatures living in their appointed places, travelling their circles through the forests, the mountains, the deserts, and the plains. From time to time the creatures of the forest would find their way to the plains and the creatures of the deserts found their way up to the tops of the mountains but for the main part things stayed as they had always been each road to itself.

And then suddenly, to the mystery of all, a new road was seen in the East. To what purpose was this new road, no one knew. It was a mystery, but it did not appear good; it seemed to upset the careful balance of all things as it meandered its way westward. It was an ugly road, hard and stony and colorless of pure white sharp cutting stone going nowhere.

As soon as it appeared it crossed the road in the forest and the forest road greeted it warmly at first, but the confusion it caused the creatures was great. So shortly the forest road stiffened against it and nothing was ever the same again.

And the road moved on. It crossed the road at the mountain's base and this road said, "You made it here, but you'll never make it to the top!" But the road was wrong and soon the new road was up and over the mountain top heading ever westward.

The new road was an arrogant road in its whiteness and nothing could stop it, and it never stopped to really think what it was up to. It just moved on and on.

Now the roads of the plains heard of its coming. The descriptions of the various creatures that had seen it were terrible, and the roads of the plains united together to stop the new road. Their effort was gallant; they stopped it cold! But the new road pushed on and on and on. In time, even the mighty roads of the plains gave way.

The new road reached the desert. There was struggle, great struggle, but the new road crossed over the desert and moved west even to the blue water of the western sea. There the road turned and ran along the coast ever arrogant of its victory and haughty with its own importance.

But something had happened along the way. As the white road crossed the dark fertile road of the forest it picked up some of the color of the dark roads of the forest. The creatures of the forest move across its sharp white stones leaving tracks the color of the forest and the sharpness of the stones were slowly worn down.

Again, the creatures of the mountains kicked up stones from the mountain roads and scattered them among the white new stones until there was a mix of red and yellow, dark and light.

The olive color of the grasslands was spread over the great white road as the creatures of the grassland joined the heavy traffic along with the creatures of the forests and the mountains. Then the many colors of sand from the desert moved among the many other stones until all was a mix and it had no identifiable color of its own.

Now this haughty new road was not so new and not so haughty as it had nowhere to go. It turned back aimlessly without direction winding its way back through the deserts and mountains, plains and forests.

The land was in turmoil, the creatures running amuck. Each time the new road crossed one of the old ones it would be greeted with disdain.

What kind of road are you? You are not a road of the forest! You are not a road of the plain! You are nothing.

Thus it went, over and over again as it did what it always had done, just moved on. Just before it came to where it had begun, all the derision it had taken for so many miles throughout the land began to takes its toll. At a bend in the road, it stopped. It began to take great pity on itself crying, "What kind of road am I? I am not a road of the grassland, not a road of the desert. I am nothing. My pure white stones are stained forever! I am dirty with the colors of all."

The road wept and went onward no more. The bend in the road was filled with tears and its mixture of stones and earth and sand became mud. The road was impassable! The more the pity, the more the mud....

Then one day a traveller, a road-weary old man, stopped at the roads edge unable to continue. Angry, the old man struck the road with a stick and said, "What is this? Why are you blocking my way?"

"Woe is me," said the road. "I am as nothing...neither a road of the forest nor a road of the plain. Neither am I a road of the mountains nor a road of desert. Woe is me! I am no kind of road at all!"

"Stop this nonsense," rebuked the old man, "Stop it now! What kind of road is a road of the forest if it goes nowhere but the forest? What kind of road goes only to the mountain, or the desert, or the plain? Be what you were created to be. Make the circle! The mystery must go on!

Randy R. Cox

Night comes and the dreams come
I am walking with the people
To a far distant land
Where there is peace and good things
Earth Mother beneath my feet feels grand
Father Sky is illuminated by the Ancestors
Stars that twinkle and shine are divine
Messages from old ones come to us now
Telling us that there are things that we need to do
Coming together this night are many nations
Finding a peaceful walk to the mountains
Where the Eagles live , where there is calm

A sound we hear makes us stop,
It is Creator telling us what we do is good
We listen to his words for we know he is the one
The one who answers our prayers, the one who has made all 
The dream continues and I am seeing the old ways
The trail we all walked to freedom
but along the way there was devastation
So in this I have learned many lessons
All the lessons to be passed onto the young
In each and every way they are learning what we have
To Dream this way is such a sight
For I am filled with Great Spirit

Copyright 1998 Svnoi Wahya

I was walking down a road one day
I saw an old man lying in the street
He was almost naked and starving
He had sores on his body
He looked weak and let down
He had tears in his eyes
And was lonely and forgotten 
He looked at me and said
Why are we forgotten?
Don't our people care anymore?
Would they want us just to die?
So we will be no more?
I gave my all to my people
My food. house, money
And anything I had was theirs to take 
Now I am old
They have taken all from me 
They don't want to give back
On what I gave and shared with them
What are our people coming to?
Not caring about anything but themselves
With that he bowed his head
And said nothing else 
I said
Here, come with me 
Take my food, house, money, clothes
Anything that is mine is yours
Come and I will be your friend
And be here for you
Whenever you need anything
Just call my name
And I will be there always
With that
He came alive again and held his head high
And said his name was Caring Eagle
Then he turned into an eagle
And flew up into the sky
And told that he did find one
Who cared enough to listen and help 
And he came back and he said to me
Go in peace and if you need anything
Just call my name and I will be here for you 

BY BLUELOVE7

The People were holding out on the mesa thru the winter. They were so used to being cold and hungry that they didn't feel much any more. Their horses had eaten the last blade of grass and bit of bark, and they they'd eaten most of their horses.

They'd gotten to the point where they figured it was a lucky day when they found a mouse that they could boil into a soup and drink. Yet still they had to find strength for their long watches.

But surrender? Never!

The old man had one special arrow, he sang and prayed over it every night. He promised himself and that arrow that someday he'd get a good shot at the US Army leader. He knew the arrow was hungry, too....

But sooner or later time had its way, and the right of conquest, and acts of Congress and the treaties. The people learned to raise cattle on ranches and raise bets in casinoes. But still that arrow waited. It had a promise to keep.

A man climbs up the steep cliff and onto the beautiful green mesa. Most days he's the CEO of a major power utility. Today he's just a guy enjoying a hike on a weekend. He's an expert hiker, it's good for stress. He's been meaning to explore this location. It's so isolated it would be good for a radioactive waste disposal site. It would be a pity to destroy such a beautiful landscape. Oh well, time marches on.

He looks around. What amazing artifacts here! He stuffs his pockets. He is especially pleased with a beautiful arrowhead he finds. Such fine work, this must have been no ordinary arrow, it must have been used for a ceremony. He puts it in his pocket. He can feel the heat of its spirit and is filled with a sad admiration for the people who had once been here.

Going back down the cliff, there's a horrible accident. Somehow or other the rappel comes undone and the hiker tumbles down into the ravine. They find him four days later, picked clean by the coyotes and the ravens, with a beautiful arrowhead lodged in his heart.

by Dee www.erets.com/AUTHORS/dee

I'm no Wasp, and I'm no Squaw, 
Shawnee Women were always strong.
I pledged myself to you,
In the eyes of the Law, 
I stood by you when all went wrong.

I've asked the Great Spirit to help me be, 
The Wife, Lover and Friend you need.
The Mother who can raise our daughter and son 
to be Loving, Caring, Responsible people.

The Daughter my Mother and Father 
can be proud they raised.
The Sister my brothers 
can turn to for help with their children.
The Friend my friends need 
to accept and listen to them.
The Woman I was meant to be.

And when I die, 
May my eyes see my children, 
their children 
and their children's children.
As Grandmother sees me.

Alsoomse Angeni  Independent Spirit