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THE PASSING, Bronze ~ INDIAN DEATH RITUAL |
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Jul 7 04, 07:31
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Group: Gold Member
Posts: 3,660
Joined: 23-August 03
From: Somerset, England
Member No.: 22
Real Name: Grace
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
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THE PASSING
A blood-red halo crowns the mountain, silently stealing the night.
Silky soft ether caresses his face- ancient, leathered and weathered by countless suns.
His closed eyes filter the new light through almost translucent lids. Withered arms remain outstretched beseeching his spirit ancestors to share eternity with him.
The gentle breeze strengthens, lifting and rummaging beneath his cloak of aged buffalo hide, inquisitively fingering the parchment skin stretched drum-tight over bones as old as memory.
Motionless, he sits in trance through many phases of the moon; a shell from which all life but breath has fled, patiently awaiting The Passing.
Suddenly, an eagle soars, its spirit whispering on the wind a final answer to his chant.
© Grace Galton October 2003
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Jul 7 04, 18:56
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Mosaic Master
Group: Administrator
Posts: 18,892
Joined: 1-August 03
From: Massachusetts
Member No.: 2
Real Name: Lori Kanter
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:Imhotep
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Thank you for entry into "Odin's Opposition"!
Best of luck in the battle!
~Mosaic Musings Staff
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"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." ~ J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the RingsCollaboration feeds innovation. In the spirit of workshopping, please revisit those threads you've critiqued to see if the author has incorporated your ideas, or requests further feedback from you. In addition, reciprocate with those who've responded to you in kind. "I believe it is the act of remembrance, long after our bones have turned to dust, to be the true essence of an afterlife." ~ Lorraine M. KanterNominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here! "Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, Faith looks up." ~ Early detection can save your life.MM Award Winner
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Oct 13 05, 08:13
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Mosaic Master
Group: Administrator
Posts: 18,892
Joined: 1-August 03
From: Massachusetts
Member No.: 2
Real Name: Lori Kanter
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:Imhotep
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Congratulations on your Bronze placement!
You have risen up, drank from the Well of Wisdom and have been crowned the ‘bringer of bronze’!
Well done! :pharoah2
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"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." ~ J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the RingsCollaboration feeds innovation. In the spirit of workshopping, please revisit those threads you've critiqued to see if the author has incorporated your ideas, or requests further feedback from you. In addition, reciprocate with those who've responded to you in kind. "I believe it is the act of remembrance, long after our bones have turned to dust, to be the true essence of an afterlife." ~ Lorraine M. KanterNominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here! "Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, Faith looks up." ~ Early detection can save your life.MM Award Winner
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Oct 14 05, 10:08
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Ornate Oracle
Group: Praetorian
Posts: 9,312
Joined: 27-August 04
From: Bariloche, Argentine Patagonia
Member No.: 78
Real Name: Sylvia Evelyn Maclagan
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:David Ting
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Dear Grace ! :sun:
This is a really wonderful poem ! It gives one a feeling of awe, of the mystical and unknowable, realms beyond our reach. You've captured the mood perfectly.
I think you should write a collection on Indian poetry. You handle it so deftly and with such powerfully poetic imagery.
Congrats, Grace ! Love, Sylvia :snail: :turtle:
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Mis temas favoritos The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.
"There is no life higher than the grasstops Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind Pours by like destiny, bending Everything in one direction."
Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights. Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!MM Award Winner
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Oct 14 05, 16:34
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Group: Gold Member
Posts: 3,822
Joined: 3-August 03
From: Florida
Member No.: 10
Real Name: Elizabeth
Writer of: Poetry
Referred By:Lori Kanter
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Hi Grace,
What a beauitiful piece of poetry! As Sylvia mentions, there is a sense of mystical and magical aura to this. The images are wonderful. Congratulations on the win...a worthy piece of work!
Best wishes, Liz
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Oct 15 05, 04:59
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Group: Gold Member
Posts: 3,660
Joined: 23-August 03
From: Somerset, England
Member No.: 22
Real Name: Grace
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
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Good Morning Sylvia and Liz, :sun:
Many thanks for your kind words. Much appreciated.
I would have found it almost impossible (as did the judges) to separate your two wonderful, winning pieces. Both deserved to win, it is just a shame that we couldn't have a tie.
Never mind, may your gold and silver shine on! :cloud9: :cloud9:
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Oct 15 05, 09:30
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Ornate Oracle
Group: Praetorian
Posts: 9,312
Joined: 27-August 04
From: Bariloche, Argentine Patagonia
Member No.: 78
Real Name: Sylvia Evelyn Maclagan
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:David Ting
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Thank you, Grace ! :sun:
But I see no answer from you about continuing to write about Indians, their spirituality and all the mystery surrounding their knowledge of the Earth. I well remember the other short poem you wrote about the Indian & his ancestors. This one is even more impressive. Please keep this up, I mean it, Grace.
Shall be waiting.... :)
Hugs, Sylvia :turtle:
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Mis temas favoritos The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.
"There is no life higher than the grasstops Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind Pours by like destiny, bending Everything in one direction."
Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights. Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!MM Award Winner
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Oct 15 05, 14:49
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Group: Gold Member
Posts: 153
Joined: 22-August 03
From: West Monroe, Louisiana
Member No.: 20
Real Name: Chris
Writer of: Poetry
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Congratulations Grace! :dance:
On a most worthy award. :pharoah2
I remember this poem well. The first time I'd read it I knew it was something special and was glad to see that you'd entered this one into the competition. I have gone back to this poem many times for the pure enjoyment of reading it.
As others have mentioned, it has always filled me with a sense of awe, and also spiritual humility. Your use of imagry and the skill to reach right into mine and other's hearts with this piece is just pure magic. :lovie:
It's just beautiful Grace. Congratulations again! {{hugs}}
Love and stuff, Chris :)
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"...Morgan le Fay was not married, but put to school in a nunnery, where she became a great mistress of magic." - ?Mallory, Morte d'Arthur MM Award Winner
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Guest_Don_*
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Oct 16 05, 10:11
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Guest
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Thanks for the poem and congratulations on the award.
Researching American Indians is infinite. The number of tribes are overwhelming. It seems the dividing difference between native Americans and European settlers was ownership of land. The indigenous had tribal zones, but they traveled and traded extensively. What we now call Kentucky was a sacred common hunting ground.
Of course, perhaps another big divide was their inherent communion with nature (like Celts) which was of this earth contrasted to newcomers beliefs in extraterrestial like heaven and an afterlife reward.
Ah, I wander off the subject.
Don
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Oct 16 05, 11:00
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Group: Gold Member
Posts: 3,660
Joined: 23-August 03
From: Somerset, England
Member No.: 22
Real Name: Grace
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
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Hello Don,
Thank you for visiting and commenting. It is good to see you here. I hope your convalescence it going well?
Yes, as you say this subject is infinite and I am reading furiously, more for interest at the moment than with a plan in mind. I shall wait for something to strike me severely about the brains and then try to depict it in a poem.
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Guest_Don_*
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Oct 16 05, 11:52
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Guest
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Hi Grace,
Fortunately, there are well known British authors expert on the subject of American Indians. The problem is culling through the conflicts with whites to discern the essence of these peoples.
The Shawnee (people of the sun) who were important in Ohio, Indiana terrritorys were descendants of Central Mexico who left that homeland due to persecution of strong cruel rulers of another tribe.
Florida Seminole Indians were the only ones never to sign a treaty with U.S. Government. They lived in the swamps; therefore, too difficult to root out.
The great Cherokee nation were vast traders and have outstandingly handsome men. They were the only ones to devise a written alphabet to compare with whitemen's written communication. Ah yes, another essential divide was their verbal cultures and our writing cultures.
I am mending very well thank you. I gather Jox/James and JustDaniel are both suffering illnesses.
How about yourself?
I like your approach with initial readings until a flash of light strikes.
Don
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Oct 16 05, 13:11
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Group: Gold Member
Posts: 3,660
Joined: 23-August 03
From: Somerset, England
Member No.: 22
Real Name: Grace
Writer of: Poetry & Prose
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Hi Don,
Thank you so much for the tidbits of information.
QUOTE The great Cherokee nation were vast traders and have outstandingly handsome men. They were the only ones to devise a written alphabet to compare with whitemen's written communication. Ah yes, another essential divide was their verbal cultures and our writing cultures.
I am particularly interested in the Cherokee and their expulsion from Georgia because of the Gold Rush there and the consequent "Trail of Tears" to their new homeland in Oklahoma. It all makes fascinating reading ~ but there is so much of it to sift through to try to produce one small poem. :hsdance:
Keep getting better Don, that's great news.
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