The Great Drum

The circle of the Earth

is the head of a great drum.
With the day,

it moves upward—booming.
With the night,

it moves downward—booming.
The day and the night are its song.

I am very small,

as I dance upon the drumhead.
I am like a particle of dust,

as I dance upon the drumhead.
Above me in the sky

is the shining ball of the drumstick.

I dance upward with the day.
I dance downward with the night.
Some day I shall dance afar

into space like a particle of dust.

Who is the Drummer who

beats upon the Earth-drum?
Who is the Drummer who

makes me to dance his song?

—Ojibwa