Buffalo*

Big. Bold. Beautiful. Your numbers now few Yet soul-power great Oh, how you’ve suffered The loss your herds endured Where once you roamed on plains in the ten-millions Providing life for the indigenous with your own And succumbing to the American Frontier with your slaughter I see your small gathering near the Washington-Idaho border Tended by the Kalispel, grazing, gazing On the open two-hundred-acre field, Mountains in the background Sunshine and sky, bright and blue You are the survivors Sacred. Bold. Beautiful buffalo, Thank you You teach me, surrender to what is - Pat Kowal

*IN THE EARLY 1800S, THE NUMBER OF BUFFALO, WHICH ARE ACTUALLY BISON, ON THE GREAT PLAINS IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE BEEN BETWEEN 30 TO 60 MILLION. BY THE END OF THE CENTURY, MASS SLAUGHTER BY HUNTERS AND THE U.S. ARMY HAD REDUCED THIS POPULATION TO NEAR 500 ANIMALS. CURRENT NUMBERS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE ABOUT 500,000.