cîst! wâwâhtîwa;
sôhki nîmihitowak,
cîst! kâh-kîmwîwak.
ᒌᐢᐟ! ᐚᐚᐦᑏᐘ;
ᓲᐦᑭ ᓃᒥᐦᐃᑐᐘᐠ,
ᒌᐢᐟ! ᑳᐦ ᑮᒱᐘᐠ!
Look! The northern lights;
Ancestors are dancing hard,
Look! They’re whispering!
Haikus in Cree are exceedingly rare (needless to say?) This one was composed by Solomon Ratt, quite possibly the world’s leading expert. He began working on this one in a dream last week. He describes another dream:
I came upon my father, long gone, who was sitting on a log, laughing, he scoots aside getting me to sit beside him. Laughing, he tells me ‘kinihtâ-wîpowithihkân. – You sure know how to influence people.’
Perhaps we can now expect haikus from all of nêhiyaw-askiy!
One Response
I like learning language by memorizing metrical poems (especially short ones!). This is the first Cree text I’ve learned: thankyou for sharing it!