The Waning

He sat quietly on his horse

And sighed as he gazed below

His heart was heavy with the grief

That many would come to know

Their lives were forever changed

The ways of The Fathers gone

Once they both were  free and sovereign

So very proud, and so strong

Tribes had numbered with the stars

But, just as the herd he watched below,

He felt they too would fade away

Like the mighty Buffalo

Natives dependent on this land,

Children of Mother Earth,

Would be forced along bitter trails

Far from their places of birth 

He rode out from the remnant herd

Into the waning sun alone

Farewell to the last of both their kind

And this land  called "Yellowstone"

K.L. Dennie  June 2013