White Buffalo Woman's Long Climb

soaring down ice caved roads

this ancient land steeped in Ponderosa pine,

howlin rains gather along the divide-

aftermath from monsoons past.

enfolding each day of living,

foggy breath emits lifeforce energy thrusts,

while Zuni Indian Poets assemble at El Morro Peak

intently receiving the calls of red-tailed hawks soaring above.

it is a long climb vertical to reach those forgiving clouds,

but a solitary traveler

 breathing from her nose one nostril at a time,

wayward here in this high desert country,

casts prayers with each earth step

for further clouds to shelter her.

what vision could have beckoned White Buffalo Woman?

what passion could beseech her onward?

this once young girl who had passed here on horseback,

this once young girl now fertile,

never again to be smitten by drought.

in this country of too many horses without riders,

of not enough children with parents,

for this subtle traveler,

there is way too much distance inside her heart

to recall a way back home.