Sacred Hoop

Then I was standing

on the highest mountain

of them all.

And round beneath me

was the whole hoop

of the world.

And while I stood there

I saw more than I can tell

And I understood

more than I saw.

For I was seeing

in the sacred manner

the shape of all things

of the spirit

And the shapes

as they must live

together like one being.

And I saw that the sacred hoop

of my people

was one of many hoops

that make one circle,

wide as daylight and starlight.

And in the center grew one

mighty flowering tree

To shelter all the children

of one mother

and one father.

And I saw that it was holy.

- Black Elk