Abanaki Song

Photo by Mark Samuels at Phototrektours.com

Come, my beloved, let us go up the shining mountain, and sit together;
we will watch the sun go down in beauty from that shining place.
We will sit there till the Night Traveler rises in beauty above the shining mountain;
we will watch him as he climbs to the skies.
We will watch also the little stars following their chief.
We will watch the northern lights playing their game of ball in their cold, glistening country.
We will sit there on the beautiful mountain while the thunder beats his drum.
We will see the flashes from the lit pipe of the lightning.
We will see the great whirlwind race with the squall.
We will sit there until all creatures drowse.
There we will hear the great owl sing his usual song: “Go to sleep, go to sleep,”
and see all animals obey his call.
We will sit there in beauty on the mountain, and watch the small stars in their sleepless flight.
They do not mind the song “Go to sleep”;
and the Night Traveler will come closer,
to warn us that everything is sleeping except ourselves and the little stars.
They and their chief are coursing along, and our minds go with them.
Then the owl sleeps; and his call to sleep sleeps;
and the lightning’s flash from a long way off;
the great pipe is going out;
and the thunder ceases to beat his drum;
and though our bodies urge us to sleep,
we sit in beauty, very still, upon the shining mountain.