We came out of the bushes against
Yellow Hair, their leader and 210 men.
He thought he was going to attack
A camp of women and children
and sleeping braves.
The look on his face was precious,
So many of us that he could not conceive
When we came out from our hiding places.
We circled him quickly and they could not escape.
They grow smaller and smaller
As we continue on through the day.
Strange,
Do not the other pony soldiers
in the area hear all the gun fire?
Yet they do not respond,
Do they want to get rid of Yellow Hair too?
The whites say that revenge is sweet,
But as for me, there is bitterness in my mouth.
It makes me want to vomit,
So much death for nothing.
We could have taught them so much about
How to live in harmony with Mother Earth,
But instead they have us die all the day long.
Instead of living in peace with Mother Earth,
They rape the land, destroying so much.
Eventually Mother Earth will spew them
Out one day and with her own revenge
and revive herself without them.
As we continue on they are now gone,
All of them, to each last man.
For Yellow Hair and his men,
The one white men call Custer,
This was his last stand,
And as for us?
I know that it is
Our last great Hurray.
"Custer's Last Fight," painted by W.H. Leigh, 1939.
Nightly Sky 
Brilliantly sad, sadly victorious, yes what a waste of men, what a waste of time!
It is such a shame that we cannot learn from each other, but we always think we are better than anyone else. Thank you so very much for your comment.
I really liked the start, and so true about revenge being bitter and not sweet.
Thank you. I always cherrish your feedback. Revenge is a monster that kills both sides.
I know. We so often glorify revenge in our fiction, but it is not like that in real life. At least, it shouldn’t be.
Oh so powerful!!
Thank you so very much. You’re comment do go to spam, but I pulled it out.
Excellent subject matter, Randall! I very much enjoyed this. 🙂
Thank you. It was only by chance that I went ahead with this poem. I thought it was kind of duh, but on second thought I was thinking it was something that needed to be said.
Well, I’m glad you said it. 🙂
This is incredible. I am blown away.
Thank you so much, you are more than kind.
Good one Randall! Good to have you back! I’ve always been fascinated by this climactic and epic historical event and the way the indiginous people of the Americas were treated, (and still are) is one of the great tragedies in the evolution of the human species. Lots of karma and dharma on this one and much to be learned.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. It is one of those dark spots on the annals of history that I hope is never repeated, but I am afraid it will. If only we could learn.
Painted a vivid mental picture. Love it. Also, your headline about the night stars reminds me of Melville’s poem “Writing”; “the small bones of the wrist balance against great skeletons of stars exactly.” 🙂 Keep it up, friend!
Thank you very much. I try to make the poems as like being there. I love the night sky, astronomy is a another hobby of mine.
Powerful. I refer to this same event briefly in my poem “Western” from a similar but more oblique perspective.
Thank you for your comment. I have found your poem “Western” and I am listing the link here for others can read your poem also. http://simonsworlds13.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/western/
It is a great poem.
You’re right – this needed to be said.
Thank you. I sincerly appreciate your visit and comment.
Yeah! Marvelous!!!! Very well said, Randall! Nice to see you “back in the saddle” again 🙂 hugs, Terri
Thank you so much for your comment. I trully appreciate it.
I really enjoy your writing! Your poems are unique! 🙂
And so I have nominated you for the ABC (AWESOME Blog Content) Blogger Award! 🙂 Here is the link: http://kweschn.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/abc-for-me-abc-for-you/ 😀
So vivid! So real. And so haunting. Your writing gift has not lost any grace, Randall. So glad to see you back 🙂
Glad to see you are back in your “saddle”. Peace.
they couldnt keep their land, and so we all lost out
Most unfortunately that is true, we lost a lot of knowledge of living in harmony with and taking much better care of the earth. Thank you so much.
The saddest thing of all about the story is that humans reenact it over and over and never learn enough from it!
We seem to always repeat history because we can never learn from it. Great and powerful comment, thank you.