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There is a woman,
she is from up North,
she speaks in
the lilting way
of those from Rocky Boy,
Fort Peck,
Standing
Rock.
I am not sure what she is
maybe Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa,
Cree
maybe...
she told me once but I have forgotten...
when she talks her
voice is like crushed velvet,
soft and inviting
and her laughter falls
like heavy rain
soaking your every pore...
it sounds as it comes from the
soul...
I have known her for some time...
when she was a
youngster...
then a teenager
and then a bright young woman...
I know
her mother
and sometimes I wonder about her father...
She talks about him
how he took care of her,
protected
her
and spoke to her about the way she should live...
he passed away a
couple of years ago...
alone
her mother left him years ago...
her
mother once said she married him
because she wanted a powerful man in her
life...
but he beat her
and she got tired of it
and left him after
many years...
This young lady has long black hair
and eyes that shine
even at night
and they smile when she speaks to you.
I see her every now
and then...
I went with her on a trip
where we talked about the
things of work
and day to day living...
She dances,
women's traditional
at pow wows
dressed
in white buckskin
and she moves like a branch in the
wind...
softly
and with a step that has been learned from hours of
practice....
she has two boys
and they are her life...
they make her
complete...
She works hard everyday
and cares for her children
and
is married to a gruff young man
and sometimes I wondered how they got
together
but it is not my place to ask why...
but she loves him...
He goes about and checks on her every day...
where is
she...
what is she doing...
who did she go with....
he
says.....
sometimes he drops by and visits her...
bringing gifts and
presents... and sometimes stays for hours....
I saw her the other day like I have in days past...
in
town getting out of the truck...
she moved so so slow...
her body aching
it looked like...
and sometimes she comes in
and her bright eyes covered
by dark glasses
hiding the light from her blue eyes...
Sometimes there is a limp in her walk...
and she moves
gingerly...
taking the day slow
and smiles and talks...
she has the
gift of talking about anything and everything...
oh, I fell she
says....
and there under her arm are the dark lines of fingers....
some
never will go away
they stay for months...
they tell their own
story...
She is here today...
and yet she has been gone for many
days...
twisted her shoulder...
falling from a horse...
but she will
dance traditional for July 4th...
He brought her new buckskin leggings...
she showed them
to all...
She is a natural beauty...
tall and fair...
with long
black hair and dark brown eyes
and a soul that shines on her
children...
they are everything to her....
She has a smile that is radiant..
but it seems her eye
brows are sometimes swollen....
retaining water she says...
and yet I can
hear her father...
just as she would say...
he was a tall large
man...
from Northern Montana...
he always treated her well...
and took
care of her....
if he were here he would take care of me
she would say
and nothing more...
and she talks about him so....
She loves this man she married
and the other day I asked
her why...
she looked at me closely...
I looked into her eyes
and in
there spoke to the person inside.....
you are young and have a long life
ahead of you...
maybe you should get rid of him...
and she was
quiet...
and then said...
I am going to dance at the pow wow this week end...
and I
will wear these new buckskin leggings...
and look at the beadwork...
it
is so nice...
and looking at her I could see that under her dark
glasses
she had blue eyes...
so her life goes on...
time after
time...
day after day...
and though the world waits at the edge of the
dance arena
she will dance in the way she has lived
and it will go
on....
and on...
Somewhere in her soul...
she lives free...
and it is a
place...
where she goes to her little world
but her children see it
all...
she is there just a little ways away...
smiling and laughing with
her blue eyes...
and there is nothing else to say ...
until someday when
she
gets tired of those blue eyes......
