WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN As a beautiful young maiden I appeared bearing a sacred pipe, And inside the village’s big medicine tipi, together we conducted ceremony. I showed the people How to lift the pipe up to the sky, toward Grandfather, And down to the earth, toward Grandmother. And to the four directions of the universe. I told them the smoke rising from the bowl Was the living breath of the great Grandfather Mystery. “With this pipe,” I said,“Walk a living prayer. With your feet resting upon the earth And the pipestem reaching into the sky, Your body forms a living bridge between The Sacred Beneath and the Sacred Above. Now we are one: Earth, sky, man, woman, And all living things. We are all relations, The pipe holds them all together.” Next I instructed In the seven sacred ceremonies of the pipe: The first was the sweat lodge purification ceremony. The next was for naming the children. The third was for healing, The fourth was the adoption ceremony. The fifth the marriage ceremony. The sixth was the vision quest. And the seventh was the sundance ceremony. As I walked away, I became a Buffalo, and I rolled over four times: First I turned into a black buffalo; Second into a brown buffalo; The third into a red buffalo; And the fourth time I became a white buffalo calf. As soon as I departed that day Great buffalo herds appeared from beyond the horizon And some of their number allowed themselves to be killed So the people might live. I have not forgotten you. That white buffalo calf born not so long ago, Is but one glimmer from the beyond Of My imminent return. To grant your people who are My people another bridge To knit the world above And the earth below Together again. by Mary Kay Landon
