Chief Sealth Poem

How can you buy or sell the sky
The warmth of the land
If we do not own the freshness of the air
How can you buy them? 

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people
Every shining pine needle
Every humming insect
The sap carries the memories of the red man

We are part of the earth
It is part of us
The perfumed flowers are our sisters
The animals are our brothers

This land is sacred to us
The water is the blood of our ancestors
The rivers are our brothers
They carry our canoes and feed our children

The white man does not understand our ways
His appetite will devour the earth
The sight of your cities pains our eyes
There is no quiet place

No place to hear the unfurling of leaves
The rustle of the insect's wings
The clatter only seems to insult the ears
We do not understand

I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes
Left by the white man
Who shot them from a passing train
Whatever happens to the beasts happens to man 

All things are connected
The earth is our mother
If men spit upon the ground
They spit upon themselves

Man belongs to the earth
To harm the earth
Heaps contempt on its creator
The earth does not belong to man


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