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Section 7

 

Spirit of the Samoyed.

 

This poem was given to my owners when I adopted them. I assume that it is free of copyright and can be used freely. If not I apologise.

 

I am as old as time and as young as tomorrow.

I have willingly travelled beside you throughout the years

And cannot imagine life without you.

I raise my voice now in joyous celebration with you.

Dog song and human song, blending in natural harmony forever.

I am the spirit of the Samoyed.

 

Once there was a time when the animals and people were closer.

Life was elemental and needs were fewer,

And it was easier to understand the shared language of life.

I t could almost be said that humankind and my kind could talk together.

It was at this time that I came to know you well.

Our lives were full of hardship:

There were clouds of mosquitoes and flies in the warm time

And wolves and polar bears when it was cold and dark.

The first of my kind came to herd the reindeer and were welcomed and respected.

We shared your campfires sleeping lodges and we also knew great joys.

Long winter nights brought us together for sleeping.

While colours in the sky changed everything from white to green to pink and back again.

Crackling like a campfire in the sky.

The smell of roasting game still makes me hungry:

And we always knew when the moving time would come

When we heard the ice breaking up in the rivers.

We were of the Bjelkier and each cycle of generations brought us closer to you.

So much of what we are today was learned at that time.

We helped pull the sleds, we moved the caribou with our joyous barking

And there is not an arctic hare we could not dig out of its burrow.

 

Thousands of your years went by and our lives changed forever

But we always remained by your side.

Whether we were leading Roald Amundsen to the south pole

Or enduring the man made thunder of the bombing of  England.

Eventually we were found in many countries,

Far from our arctic homes and yet we enjoyed it for we were with you.

Since we always loved to show off,

These events you call dog shows were easy for us and and a lot of fun

Sometimes though, we may think that we see an arctic hare

Just outside the ring….

And our spirits become very willing to embrace the old ways.

 

Now we have come together in the Pacific Northwest

A place of great beauty and spirituality.

This is the land of myth and legend.

The place of the Tglint, the Makah and the Sasquatch.

This is the land where history is still new and the past but a heartbeat away.

Some say that if you listen carefully you can hear the resonance, the song

Of nature in the hills, the rivers, the trees, the sky.

Some also say it’s a land where stories told over the campfires

Can invite the old spirits, man and dog, to come and listen.

 

Let this be our potlatch

A time of gathering and joyous celebration, as it was before.

I will come and share your campfires and your sleeping lodges

And let this be the time when again,

The people and the Samoyed are one.

Let the song of forever continue blending in perfect harmony~

For I am the Spirit of the Samoyed.

 

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