The river is listening but we do not speak. The trees on the mountain await our commune. Why do we sit frustrated, searching for answers, and refuse to listen to the wind that blows around us? Why? We own machines that play composed “natural” sounds and spew formulated scents when the birds sing and the grass smells so sweet. We deafly cut down the trees that beg sanctuary; to make cardboard replicas of artificially tree scented trees. WHY!?! Our silence in the earth’s ongoing debate is deafening. The whale leaps from its oceans to see where we’ve gone. The raven screams out our names, yet we walk pass deaf and dumb. The coyote calls in the night, “come play tricks with me”, and we throw rocks and yell “Shut up” or just shoot him. Why? Our mother earth beckons “come grow with me and be at peace” and we blow holes in her mountains, kill her trees and poison her waters. Why? Tell me why do we deny our profound need to return to the circle. It is a closed symmetrical curve and we are part of it, and it is part of us. So when you feel empty or alone, listen to the wind, talk to the river and remember the raven knows your name. You will never be whole outside the circle. So reach out to either side and grasp your ancestor’s hands and dance the circle with them once more and be healed.

BY D.P. Wingo 1/3/07