Camp Creek
In the old days
.. when horses were still just food
... there were people here
….. learning... how to live on this land.
Perhaps, life was harder then
.. certainly it was a bit simpler
… food, shelter, water, amusement
…. were abundant... so were big bears.
Travel was different, too.
.. The dogs and women
... carried everything important.
…. Men... were guarding and hunting
Villages moved in good weather
.. for a few hours each day
… over open ground . . .
…. There were old people and young.
The land revealed secrets then,
.. in the first and last red light of day,
… mid-summer's spires of fire,
…. green gentian blazed on the hillsides.
The people remarked then
.. on the spirits of medicine women
…. watching the land they loved
.. and the people's observances of it.
-- R.Anderson, Wallowa
