LAMENTATIONS 

An old chief tells the poet not to take the burden on himself. He tells the poet what the future would have been. In the end there would have been the Aztecs against a federation of tribes in the great plains and a great war would have commenced. The winner of the war would take a liking to conquer and organize its life around the conquest, learning to enslave other men to provide his food and goods. The way would rotten itself out.

Keep, poet, the image of the true way; the working knowledge of nature, the games and courage. Sleep well and improve your people.

Simple resentment drive the people into complexity that demoralizes them. They must come from behind their superstitions and learn the life that surrounds them; that moves through them.

Who will drive the menace from the center of the people?

Who will change the demons that manipulate the stiff and officious life of the people?

Who will open the water from the secret springs and let the exhausted people drink?

The poet tells the chief of a dream in which he instructs the people for the preparation of battle.

© 2001 David Eide. All rights reserved.