before the white man

Before the white man came,
claiming what belonged only to God,
We, a native people, flesh of the soil and water of our homeland, understood,
understood the order of our birthright – that we inherited nothing;
our survival would depend not on might, but on humility,
on harmony, on unity, on brotherhood with this land, our Eden and our hunting ground,
on respect for the mountain, the river, and the valley of the mighty buffalo.
Swallowed are the many miles, the civilized white man having swallowed,
the mouth of progress an insatiable abyss.