Journey of Nishiyuu - Andrew Barham

Six proud walkers on the jinglebell rainbow
Trudging across the land through the snow
Six proud walkers with their Elder Guides
Across the icy wastes, their toboggans glide

They come in peace, these warriors of the rainbow
Part of a prophecy as was foretold long ago
An answer to these troubled and troubling times
When Man has humbled Nature Herself with his crimes

These peoples the French called Kristineaux
Whose lands not so very long ago
Stretched from Labrador to Northern BC
From Montana to the Northwest Territory

Winters in Northern Canada blow cold
When the Arctic jet stream southward blows
And the land chills down to forty below
In this barren land of ice and snow

These stalwart youths setting forth –
Nomads from the bleak and barren North –
Who bring a message of hope and warning
From the Land of Night to the Land of Mourning

When all around us is despair and all hope is lost
Why do we still plunder the land regardless of cost?
We have fouled the air and the waters
Like beasts defiling our mother's daughters

Let us pray these six plucky youths
Bringing messages of sacred truths
Are the forerunners of the prophecy
Brought to a man in the mountains* by another Cree

Andrew Barham