* * * 

The Circle of Life*

And I must wait

And then I stood and faced the east
Enlightenment dawns with infancy
In my arms the baby cries
The ball of red begins to rise
Casting reflections upon the sea
And I must wait

And then I stood and faced the south
Innocence fades with puberty
I now watch as the young man tries
The yellow moon begins to rise
Sifting it's shadows through the tree
And I must wait

And then I stood and faced the west
Power peaks with maturity
I can recall the grown man's lies
Spreading blackness before my eyes
A fading fable I won't see
And I must wait

And then I stood and faced the north
Wisdom chums with senility
In my arms the old man sighs
White lights shine before my eyes
And I awake to wander free
Yet, I must wait . . .

Night Sky

    * To the North American aboriginal, as well as with many cultures around the globe, the points of the compass manifest the Circle of Life. As the sun rises in the East, so does life begin there. Life rotates clockwise back to the North where it simply continues in successive generations.
    The compass points may also be given the colors, red, yellow, black and white, the colors of humanity. In a spherical presentation, blue can be used to represent Father Sky and green for Mother Earth. The colors vary between nations, tribes, and even clans, but the Circle of Life itself seems to be quite homogeneous. 
    The colors are sometimes seen as having certain characteristics, notably Enlightenment for Red, Innocence for Yellow, Power and/or Evil for Black, and Wisdom for White.
 

 
A Quote from Black Elk . . . Oglala Sioux Holy Man . . . 1863-1950

"You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours...."

"Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves."