O GREAT BEING ~ Outside All Religions

In tribute to the Great Iroquois and all Indigenous American Peoples 

O Great Being In the Skies

Image by Kind Courtesy of Johnny Hwang Kirkpatrick

A Prayer of Offering

O Great Being in the Skies

I beseech you grant the spirits

Of our ancestors

Rite of Passage

to this our brother,

To see him cross to you on the Other Side

As the Crow stands in the morning mist

Then lifts its wings on high

In salute of your Presence,

May the Four Winds

Hold forth!

And grant mercy to my People,

And to allow us safe passage

To our Northern Reservation

Great Spirit!

I beseech You

to breathe into my brother

the Breath

of your Unending life

Let him sense and feel

within his lungs again

The Cool Morning Air,

The Mist of Evening,

The Darkness of Nightfall

And to see the spirits of our

Forefathers

In humble quietude before You

Oh Great Being

Take up this Spear

Take up this Blade

And vindicate us,

Your people,

for the terror

afflicted upon us,

Upon our womenfolk,

Our children,

And our children’s children,

And their children afore.

Sweep the Comfort of Your Eyes

O Great Being in the Skies

Upon all our Ancestors

Upon all our Descendants

Upon all Humankind

without distinction

without preference

without judgment

And I do so humbly beseech You

Take back to the beginning of time

All the wrong doings of our People

All the right doings of our People

And cleanse us with the coolness

Of the mountain stream

which is the very Breath

of Your Unending Spirit

Take upon Yourself

My own heart, despite my youth,

Me the chieftain of this ancient tribe,

Bearing upon my shoulders

The pain of battle

Of disease and of wrongfooting

With You, O Great One

May You, by your Countenance

Bring to us the healing,

The replenishment,

The life-giving.

Let us see again the Fawn dance,

The Panther to hold back,

The Great Bear withheld,

The Moose to stand firm.

Accept unto Your Spirit

These tokens and offerings

Of my People,

This smoke that we send up to You

That it may warm You,

And please You …

And that thereby You will warm

Our Tepee,

Our encampments,

And safeguard our livestock,

And our horses.

My warriors perform this war dance

Before You O Great Being in the Skies …

May it please You,

May You dance with us,

May my brothers and sisters

See Your Aura.

Accept this music I send up to you

From this pipe.

And may You grant that we will

Sit down again

With our former enemies

And smoke together

the pipe of peace

And reconciliation

And see the abundance of our Faith

In tribute to the great Iroquois and all Indigenous American Peoples

Author Note

Written in 2010, it is a Prayer offered up by a Native American upon the passing of his friend.

It is not composed, as in the writing of many drafts.
The writing of the first line brought forth its embodiment,
and ended with its last line,
whereupon,
I quietly let the hands move away from the keyboard.

Es ist getan

Ian Bradley Marshall

29 November 2024
All Rights Reserved

LIVERPOOL

© 2023 Kenneth Thomas Webb

Digital Artwork by KTW

Last published 12 December 2023

This striking image is by courtesy of the Boston Public library @bostonpubliclibrary through Unsplash via Squarespace, and to which Library all rights are reserved. KTW

This Artwork is by courtesy of J. S. Campos and to whom all rights are reserved.

This Artwork is by Dorothy Batchelor ~ Mists of Avalon via pinterest and to the Artist aforementioned all rights are reserved.