Many who had hiked through Canadian wilderness
[ A century ago ] Took notice of a bird in flight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flies by night
At once: a hunter, a guide, a trapper
A living made from the furs in his sight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flies by night
Into his forest lair, he gave shelter to a pair
Of beavers & a female pony
Beautiful, willful, contrite
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flies by night
He recorded every caper onto pages of paper
Turned articles & books
Thousands read his every insight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flies by night
He took bold strides to speak for trees & wild lives
Nature’s preservation against devastation became his plight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flies by night
Then he travelled to an evening pow-wow,
Where he’d shown native chiefs how
He embraced their ways,
Mastered their sacred dances by firelight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flies by night
In Canada & England, news had spread:
One day at home, he was suddenly dead
His secret’s out: The “Red Indian”
Was English & White
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flew by night
But never mind the buckskins, the feathered headdress, the moccasins
Or false tales about his past, every sleight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flew by night
His other steps were true, after all,
Preventing ecology’s steady fall
What mattered was the nature of his fight
A rare one the Ojibwa called
Washa-quon-asin–He who flew by night.
______________________________
W: Canadian Aboriginal Day 2014
[ For Archibald Belaney a.k.a. Grey Owl–1888 – 1938. ]
*OJIBWE: “Grey Owl”.
Conviction 2 Change Publishing, 2020. ]