Spring
The wallows are full.
Egrets range on bison backs —
colors rise sunward.
Summer
Their wallows are dust.
Bison linger in the lake —
a well-earned day off.
Autumn
Mud dries to hard gray —
hides covered in Ghost Dance paint —
masks teeming with life.
Winter
The only arrows
now are Orion’s as he
strides across the night.
Erin Glanville Brown is a historical collections specialist at the Pawnee Bill Ranch in Pawnee, Oklahoma. Her poetry has also been published in Oklahoma Today.
Originally published in This Land Vol. 3, Issue 22. Nov. 15, 2012.