XVIII "THIS IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE"

Sitting Bull had escaped to Canada,
but he was not wanted there.
Canadian Indians objected to giving
them land and the whites shared
the feeling and would not lend
any help to the decimated Sioux.
Here, the hunting was not good
-- it was cold and they were hungry, too.		8

For his part, Tatanka Yotanka
proclaimed loudly he had come
to the land of the Grandmother,
Queen Victoria, for it had been from
those who represented themselves
as envoys of her government,
that he had received support
-- promises, arms, encouragement.			16

Even though before the time
of the great uprising, the Sioux
had flown Old Glory as their own,
and been proud to be Americans, too,
their attempts to live as brothers,
learning farming and other ways
of the white man had been met
with the racism that says				24

that there is a separate culture
for those who were not born
white, and that they must remain 
separate, and treats with scorn
efforts by them to adapt new ways
to their traditionalities,
even though it is in thus growing
that we are more free.					32

And now Sitting Bull proclaimed that he
was a subject of the Crown,
and that his people had accepted
English rule when it had been bound
upon them after the French and Indian War,
and that they had refused
to accept the authority of the U.S.
The people had been used				40

by the same corrupt forces 
which had sought to destroy our land,
and of which, across the earth, 
are left the marks of their bloody hands.
From Africa to India to China,
they had set the course
of events like those making use
of men like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.		48

Thus, rejected and abandoned,
Sitting Bull, who had always said
that he had not fought the soldiers
'til they attacked, turned his head
and at last came back across
the border in July of eighty one,
and rode with his people into Fort Buford,
and there surrendered his gun.				56

The promise that had been given
of a pardon, was broken now,
and Sitting Bull was held a prisoner,
and the few with him bowed
to the subsistence and treachery
of life the reservation held.
Yet, within two summers,
his position once again had swelled			64

from the respect the people had
for him so that he became
the leading spokesman for the people.
And when the white man came,
it was he they would talk to.
Only now, he spoke of peace:
"I do not consider that the people
should be treated as beasts."				72

They had none of the things, he told them,
that were used by the white man.
If they were to live with their white brothers,
then all of the Indians
must have tools, livestock, wagons, he said,
"because it is the way
white people make a living."
But they refused to hear what he'd say.			80

They must become white men,
the Commissioners would tell the Sioux.
The government would care for them
and feed them, in the meantime, too.
But Sitting Bull spoke out against them:
"It is bad for the young men
to be fed by an agent. 
It makes them lazy and drunken."			88

Despite the attempts that were made
to have Sitting Bull replaced
in the minds of the people with other
leaders, he could not be erased
from their memories, and indeed,
all across the nation, it was Sitting Bull
the people knew and recognized.
He gre more powerful.					96

The government authorized Sitting Bull
on a nation-wide tour to go,
and then he became the star
of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show.
By 1890, as the Ghost Dance
was being performed with growing zeal,
the government issued orders
that the army should quickly deal			104

with the leaders of the trouble,
even though it called for no violence.
Sitting Bull's name was on the list,
and it was decided, that hence,
he should be arrested. And when they went,
forty men to take him in,
they surrounded his cabin and woke him.
He agreed to go with them.				112

But as they manhandled him, he objected.
His friends gathered outside.
"I am not going," he protested.
And some of the Sioux then tried
to stop the arrest; fighting broke out,
and in the fracas that spread,
one of the agency police
shot Sitting Bull in the head.				120

"There are no more Indians.
I am the only Indian left alive, anymore,"
Sitting Bull had said in Washington,
and now he breathed no more.
At Wounded Knee days later,
Ghost Dancers were cut down. Tashunka had cried,
"Hoka hey!" It has ended.
"This is a good day to die!"				128





POeTRY


the journal of contemporary narrative verse
Volume I Number 2     Summer 1997


In the Fall Issue of POeTRY you will find the explanation of a new 
sonnet form with examples of the format, written by the creator
of this new structure, Jeffry Woodward. Mr Woodward has had his
work widely published, and here makes an important contribution
to the realm.

POeTRY solicits your comments and your submissions for publication.
Submissions should be made by mailing them on PC diskette to 

Ron Ziegler
Editor, POeTRY
15744 Crescentwood
East Pointe, MI 48021

Direct comments to

rzieg97818@aol.com


Return to the beginning