The Road to the Spring: Collected Poems of Mary Austin

Amerindian Songs Re-expressed from the Originals

113 Amerindian Songs Re-expressed from the Originals A Song of Greatness When I hear the old men, Telling of heroes, Telling of great deeds of ancient days, When I hear that telling, Then I think within me I, too, am one of these. When I hear the tribesmen Praising great ones, Praising warriors of ancient days, When I hear that praising Then I know that I, too, Shall be esteemed, I, too, when my time comes, Shall do mightily. Sioux? Editor’s Notes Note 16: Austin says she got the song from a Sioux boy, but he wasn’t sure of its origin, and song borrowing is frequent. 114 Personal Song of Red Fox On that stone ridge I go, Hauh, hauh! East I go, Hauh, hauh! On the white road I go Crouching I go, Hauh, hauh! I yelp on the road of stars. Hauh, hauh. Northern California. Editor’s Notes Reprinted from The Children Sing in the Far West. 115 Song of a Woman Abandoned by the Tribe Because she is too Old to Keep up with their Migration Alas, that I should die, That I should die now, I who know so much! It will miss me, The twirling fire stick; The fire coal between the hearth stones, It will miss me. The Medicine songs, The songs of magic healing; The medicine herbs by the water borders, They will miss me; The basket willow, It will miss me; All the wisdom of women, It will miss me. Alas, that I should die, Who know so much. Southern Shoshone. 116 Personal Song of Daniel Red Eagle The fierce hawk of death is over me, The fierce hawk of death. Now and again Its wing shadows Brush my shoulders. The fierce hawk of death, When will it strike! Oglalla Sioux. 117 Song of Seeking The dear of my soul I have lost it; That lost Other I am seeking; All night awake I am seeking. I shall leave no place unsearched till I find her. At day break, I seemed to see her, It was only The flash of a loon’s wing on the water, It is not that Other whom my soul seeketh. Chippewa. 118 Thunder Dance at San Ildefonso I We are calling on the dark cloud Calling on the dun cloud, On the eagle-feathered clouds From their mountain eyries. Come, clouds, come And bring the summer rain. II Hear the thunder calling With the voice of many villages, With the sound of hollow drums, With the roll of pebbled gourds Like the swish of rushing rain. Hoonah, hoonah, The voice of the thunder Calling on the clouds to bring the summer rain. III Slow cloud Low cloud Wing-hovering cloud Over the thirsty fields, Over the waiting towns Low cloud, slow cloud Let the rain down! Over the blossoming beans Over the tasseling corn. 119 All day over the thirsty fields Let the rain down! Tewa. Editor’s Notes The San Ildefonso pueblo is one of six pueblos north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, that are associated with the Tewa culture and language. As Elsie Parsons notes, “Probably no Pueblo ceremony is without song or prayer for moisture” (Pueblo Indian Religion I: 481). See “Song of the Basket Dancers” in AR, 1923. 120 Cradle Song Coo . . . ah . . . coo . . . ! Little Dove, Coo . . ah . . coo! The wind is rocking Thy nest in the pine bough, My arms are rocking Thy nest, little Dove. Coo . . . ah. . . . coo Little Dove Sleep Little Dove Coo . . oo . oooo Little Dove! Paiute. 121 Gambling Song OFTEN SUNG AS A LULLABY Glossy Locks picks them up, Picks them up, picks them up. Red Moccasin picks them up, Picks them up, The Winning ones, The Lucky ones, Glossy Locks picks them up My little Dove! Navajo. Editor’s Notes Austin’s source for the lullabies and gambling songs is Washington Matthews, “Navajo Gambling Songs,” American Anthropologist 2 (January 1889): 1–19; rpt. Washington, D.C.: Judd & Detweiler, 1889; a similar gambling poem appears in The Children Sing in the Far West as “Glossy Locks.” 122 Two Songs of Victory COMMEMORATIVE SONG AND DANCE OF PAIUTES FOR A VICTORY OVER THE MOJAVE Hey-yah, hey...