Cowboy Poetry and Western Verse
The White Blanket
By William Guthrie
I am dressed in my family’s finest array.
My body is tense, I feel I am trembling.
My heart is alive, anticipating.
Just beyond the spider-web shadow of a cottonwood tree
with a gentle spring sun caressing my face
Mother Earth blossoms before me.
I go to pray, draped in a blanket of blue.
His dress is emblazoned with pictographs of our people
his body sinewed, sturdy.
His heart, I know, is sanguine, secure.
Just beyond the shadowy safeness of his family lodge
a whiff of wind wafts the feather in his hair
Father Sun beneficently blesses his face.
He goes to pray, draped in a blanket of blue.
Our family awaits our arrival
the rituals having been faithfully fulfilled
proper payments or exchanges made
the revered, respected Uncle-father
and the valorous, venerated Aunt-mother
removes the symbol of trials and tribulations
the ache of loneliness, longing - the blue blankets.
The Aunt-mother gracefully gathers around me
a blanket of whitest white
created by her with loving, humble hands.
My eyes are wet, maybe they sparkle as dancing diamonds.
I turn to my man, slowly spread my arms
opening the white blanket before him.
He swiftly steps inside my outstretched arms.
I silently shelter us with the white blanket
we two together, are now one.
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