We Are Vanishing From The Earth, Yet

It Is My Land, My Home, My Father's Land, To Which I Now Ask To Be Allowed To Return. I Want To Spend My Last Days There, And Be Buried Among Those Mountains. If This Could Be I Might Die In Peace, Feeling That My People, Placed In Their Native Homes, Would Increase In Numbers, Rather Than Diminish As At Present, And That Our Name Would Not Become Extinct.

The Song That I Will Sing Is An Old Song, So Old That None Knows Who Made It. It Has Been Handed Down Through Generations And Was Taught To Me When I Was But A Little Lad. It Is Now My Own Song. It Belongs To Me. This Is A Holy Song (medicine-song), And Great Is Its Power. The Song Tells How, As I Sing, I Go Through The Air To A Holy Place Where Yusun (the Supreme Being) Will Give Me Power To Do Wonderful Things. I Am Surrounded By Little Clouds, And As I Go Through The Air I Change, Becoming Spirit Only.

I Was Warmed By The Sun, Rocked By The Winds And Sheltered By The Trees As Other Indian Babes. I Can Go Everywhere With A Good Feeling.

When A Child My Mother Taught Me The Legends Of Our People; Taught Me Of The Sun And Sky, The Moon And Stars, The Clouds And Storms. She Also Taught Me To Kneel And Pray To Usen For Strength, Health, Wisdom, And Protection. We Never Prayed Against Any Person, But If We Had Aught Against Any Individual We Ourselves Took Vengeance. We Were Taught That Usen Does Not Care For The Petty Quarrels Of Men.

The Soldiers Never Explained To The Government When An Indian Was Wronged, But Reported The Misdeeds Of The Indians.