This is the place where Coyote came
To turn the bad people,
Snakes, proud lions, bears, birds, and wolves
To stone.
And here they stand,
Frozen like pieces in the chess game
Clever Wind plays with Great Mother.
It will be a long game.
This is the place
Where the evil of the Fourth World
Was frozen until strangers
From outside came here,
To poison our blankets with smallpox
And burn our hogans.
And here they stand,
Their strange shorts clinging
To their pale legs as they stand,
Consider walking among the huge stones,
Then take telephoto pictures with their
Digital cameras instead,
Slowly breaking the magics
Of Coyote's ancient glyph.