En Cherchant Judas.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

The free verse poem has unity, -the lines linked together closely-quite deep thought, a theme of two races: the white man and the Indians living on Reservations.
The poem begins with a man who has hunted and shot a deer and left it to hang there naked in the barn in the moonlight. The deer's eyes could be stolen from Jerusalem, such is their glint. The poet continues by saying that his people had honour before being converted to Jesus by the white man. His tribekilled the 'Deer People', another tribe the Cherokees andthey told them their spirits would live on. His Indian tribe used bows and arrows, 'no spotlights, no rifles' as the white man would have done and they mingled Indian blood with theirs, ' Or something like that'. A striking and successful use of anti-climax in the last line. Going from serious, deep matters to a casual, everyday expression. Thus the poet avoids sounding like a preacher.
The poem raises profound questions about colonization, racial conflicts and who really was Judas.