A Lakota (Sioux) chanunpa pipestem,
without the pipe bowl,
displayed at the US Library of Congress
To the good Mother Earth
we offer you this Pipe
that as we live upon you,
we walk and sit and play,
cry and have pain,
laugh and have joy
on your breasts.
Feed on those things
that make us live,
the food that you produce,
the herbs we need so much
to keep the people healthy.
Bless the streams and the mountains,
the trees, the grass, the shrubs,
all that you put forth from your breasts.
Great Spirit, bless our Mother Earth
so our people may continue to live
in harmony with nature.
And all that the Indian does
with the Sacred Pipe
be blessed also—
the rocks, the buffalo robe,
the skull we use as an altar,
our Sun Dance and our Sun Dance tree.
—Pete Catches Sr., Lakota Sioux
___________________
—Medusa