Ghost Dance Poem by Ray Lucero

Long ago a prophet appeared,
A Piute Medicine Chief known as Wovoka.
He spoke to the Lakota people and others,
Of how to banish the white man.

They knew not they faced such great numbers.

This Messiah taught the Ghost Dance,
And promised come next spring,
New soil would smother all white men,
Sweet grass would cover the land,
Wild horses & buffalo would return,
All who danced the Ghost Dance,
Would be taken up into the air,
Suspended while new earth was laid down.

Kicking Bear assured Sitting Bull that,
If their people wore Ghost Dance shirts,
White mans bullets could not strike them so,
They painted their shirts with sacred symbols.

Indian agents grew nervous, moved quickly,
Telegraphing Washington for more troops.
Soldiers surrounded Sitting Bulls camp,
A fight ensued and many were killed.
Ghost Dance was thwarted,
before magic could fulfill...

'The Second Coming” prophecy belonged to the white man,
For they worshiped 'A Most Jealous god”