Chief Seattle’s Poem
How can you buy or sell the sky
The warmth of the land
The idea is strange to us
How can you buy them
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people
They are holy in the memory and experience of my people
The sap which courses through the trees
Carries the memories of the red man
We are part of the earth
And it’s part of us
The perfumed flowers are our sisters
The deer, the horse, the great eagle, are our brothers
This land is sacred to us
This shining water is the blood of our ancestors
If we sell you the land
You must remember it is sacred
The rivers are our brothers and sisters
They quench our thirst
Give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother
The white man does not understand our ways
He treats the earth and the sky
As things to be bought and sold
His appetite will devour the earth
The air is precious to the red man
For all things share the same breath
The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes
Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench
But if we sell our land
Remember the air is precious to us
We will consider your offer to buy our land
But treat the animals as your brothers
I have seen rotting buffaloes
Left by the white man
Who shot them from a passing train
What is man without the beasts
Whatever happens to the beasts
Soon will happen to man
All things are connected
Teach your children that the earth is their mother
Whatever befalls the earth
Befalls the sons and daughters of earth
If men spit upon the ground
They spit upon themselves
The earth does not belong to man
But man to the earth
The earth is precious to our creator
And to harm “It” is dangerous
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