Walking

We need to walk

to know sacred places.

 

Healthy feet feel the heartbeat

of our Mother Earth,

Sitting Bull said long ago.

Walt Whitman knew that, too.

 

When we go by wheel

we roll over the land

as if it were nothing

but miles left behind.

 

When we go by air

we cut off our vision

and even our spirits

may take so long

to catch up to our bodies

that our eyes will be empty

of all but flight.

 

We need to walk

to remember the songs,

not only our own

but those of the birds,

those kept in the arms

of the hills and the wind.

 

We need to walk

to know sacred places

those around us

and those within.

 

 --Joseph Bruchac

from No Borders, Holy Cow Press

Born in 1942, Joseph Bruchac is a storyteller and poet whose work often reflects his Abenaki Indian ancestry and his lifelong interest in American Indian history and culture.  He has a B.A. from Cornell University, a Master’s degree in Literature from Syracuse, and a Ph.D. in Comparative literature from the Union Institute of Ohio.  He spent three years as a volunteer teacher in Ghana, West Africa, eight years directing a college program in a maximum security WBAprison and has taught at Skidmore College, SUNY/Albany, Hamilton College, and Columbia University.  Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, his poems, stories, and essays have appeared in hundreds of publications from American Poetry Review to National Geographic.  Bruchac is the author of over 120 books.