collected from the Paiute by Nellie Barnes
Son, my son!
I will go up to the mountain
And there I will light a fire
To the feet of my son’s spirit,
And there will I lament him;
Saying,
O my son,
What is my life to me, now you are departed!
Son, my son,
In the deep earth
We softly laid thee
In a Chief’s robe,
In a warrior’s gear.
Surely there,
In the spirit land
Thy deeds attend thee!
Surely,
The corn comes to the ear again!
But I, here,
I am the stalk that the seed-gatherers
Descrying empty, afar, left standing.
Son, my son!
What is my life to me, now you are departed?
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on November 2, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
