So I'll conclude with one last poem,
which is inspired by Francis La Flesche's Osage Dictionary.
The poem consists of a column of Osage orthography,
a column of the phonetic spelling in Osage,
and one in English.
In La Flesche's book, The Osage and the Invisible World,
he writes:
This place, this space is called the Ho'-e-ga or snare of life,
referring to a snare or trap into which all life comes
through birth and departs therefrom by death.
This space also is called the cavity of the mouth.
I'll read the poem in English.
Ho'-e-ga.
Snare.
Fish scales tremble at the edge of the water, smoky with mud.
Starved I walk in the water.
Blazing star, braided fish, I catch in the snare of life.
Stay quiet, stay all night.
Thank you so much.
[APPLAUSE]