I knew a wise woman


 I knew a wise woman

And she said to me

That the river would mold me

And the wild wind would cool me

The trickster the coyote

He would fool me


That father sun would warm me

Mother earth would clothe me

Grandmother moon would greet me

And of the old ways she would teach me

Wise woman, she told me

To always walk lightly

Tread the earth ever gently

Lovingly so preciously


And take from her sparingly

She said, to share with others

What you have learned from me

Be still and breathe, ever patiently

For the web of life

Has woven what is to be

But you must still choose

Your own path, you will see

And lastly, the wise woman said to me

To listen to the wise one

That dwells within me

To walk my path in balance

Is to be free

More than just words

So mote it be.


~ Jonathan Bear Geronimo Ramaker

Image: Native American woman Cecilia Bearchum, a tribal elder of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeastern Oregon

© Greg Vaghan

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