Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle

Everything the Power of the World
does is done in a circle
By Black Elk

Everything the power of the world does

is done in a circle.  The sky is round,
and I have heard that the earth is round
like a ball, and so are all the stars.
The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.

Birds make their nests in circles,

for theirs is the same religion as ours.

The sun comes forth and goes down again

in a circle.  The moon does the same,
and both are round.  Even the seasons
form a great circle in their changing,
and always come back again to where they were.

The life of man is a circle from childhood to childhood,

and so it is in everything where power moves.

Reprinted by permission from Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition by John G. Neihardt, the State University of New York Press ©2008, State University of New York.  All rights reserved.