On the Warpath

By luigi_pagano

Sun, 17 Sep 2017
  • 1420 reads
6 comments
 
After the Little Bighorn triumph
thoughts of burying the hatchet
and of smoking the peace-pipe
were not on Sitting Bull’s mind.
While his warriors were jubilant
and danced with bloody trophies,
he sat in his tepee excogitating.
With a forehead deeply furrowed
and his face lined with worry,
he felt a sense of foreboding.
The white men had been known
to speak with forked tongues;
many times they had promised
to respect the will of his people,
but now they disputed the right
of the natives to own their land.
He knew that the recent success
was an ephemeral achievement
and that in the end their fight
would prove to have been in vain;
the territories they now occupied
in time would become less and less.
 
© Luigi Pagano  2017
 
 
Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri
Historical Fiction
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

No wonder his brow was wrinkled, the demise of the culture of his people in sight.  A thought-provoking piece.

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

The first genocide? It makes one wonder.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Helen.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by David Kirtley on

Good piece. The sadness of history, nicely put!

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Kind of you to say so. Thank you, David.

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Luigi,

I too can understand his worry. It was such an atrocity that these people lost their land to the savagery of white man.

Like your train of thought for the I P. It fits well.

Jenny. xx

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

As always, nice to hear your thoughts, Jenny. Atrocity is the apposite word. The following shows that it was deliberate.
“There will be no peace in this region by virtue of treaties and Indian faith.  It is my purpose utterly to exterminate the Sioux (aka the Dakota) if I have the power to do so and even if it requires a campaign lasting the whole of next year.  Destroy everything belonging to them and force them out to the plains, unless, as I suggest, you can capture them.  They are to be treated as maniacs or wild beasts, and by no means as people with whom treaties or compromises can be made.” – Civil war Major General John Pope, in a letter to Colonel Sibley, urging an all-out effort to totally exterminate the Dakota, (letter was dated September 28, 1862)

Luigi x