I didn't know that
   much
About the natives
And their
Gifts
Before my mother
Held her life before the
School that poured itself
Upon the land the "White" one's
   didn't want

I didn't know that
   natives held their spirits
      high
And walked this earth
Without the vast insipid
   insecurities
      of European's best

I didn't know that
   earth was opened
      by these native hands
And touched by shaman blessings
Gently soaked by desert rains
And sheltered by traditions
Nourished by the canyon winds

But now I know
And I have felt the
Native breath 
   within my bones

(c) 1996 James Oliver Smith, Jr