To Speak Without A Tongue

To Speak Without A Tongue

by: Peter Schuler    
Ojibwe Elder - Mississauga First Nation





They came from a place we knew not where.
We fed them when they were cold.
Little knowing;
They could eat so much more than we.
Little knowing;
They would eat so many birds, buffalo... trees.
Little knowing;
They would poison Mother Earth
That sores of greed would open to run rivers of pus
Where once ran Mother Earth's crystal clear blood.

Our tongues crossed theirs
So that they could travel our lands and see what we saw.
Little knowing;
That they saw things so much different than we.
Then; slowly, surely they cut out our tongue
And replaced with theirs.

To speak without a tongue can mean many things.

loss of language speaking without your own language.
To speak with your actions, to speak with silence.
To speak through art, dance , drumming.
To speak with a look.