Poem: Old Woman

Old Woman

I used to run the green fields
with my dogs, but that was
long ago, and I am a girl no more.

I used to smile when the warriors rode
by and hide my eyes with my hair,
but now I am a girl no more.

I danced the round dance with my sisters
beneath the indigo sky,
red flames leaping like my heart,
laughing and clapping.
So long ago it seems, and I am
a girl no more.

I was shy from my lover’s eyes
as he took my hand in the darkness,
his breath on my cheek the west wind,
his body against mine, the earth.
I smile.
I was a girl once, but now I am old.

My long black hair flashed in the sun
bright as a crow’s wing,
the water trembled in my eye but did not fall
the day my man left to fight.
In my heart I felt only sorrow,
I knew he would not come back to me that day.

But I was a girl then, and now I am old,
my days grow short upon the rolling hills.
Soon he and I will meet again by the side
of the Great Spirit.
My man will not have changed,
and I will be a girl again.