Chief letter to President Pierce

Your President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? this idea is strange to us If we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water, then how can you buy them? Each part of this earth is sacred to my people Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore every mist in the dark woods, every meadow every humming insect All are holy in the memory and experiences of my people We know the sap that courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins We are a part of the earth and it is part of us The perfumed flowers are our sisters The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony and the human all belong to the same family. The shining water that moves in from streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred Each glossy reflection in the lake tells of memories in the life of my people So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother or sister If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh The wind also gives our children the spirit of life Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the ones of the earth This we know the earth does not belong to us, we belongs to the earth All things are connected like the blood that unites us all The human did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand of it Whatever we do to the earth, we do to ourselves. We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it Care for it, as we have cared for it Hold in your memory the land as it is when you receive it Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us all. As we are part of the land, you too are a part of the land As the earth is precious to us, so it must be precious to you. One thing we know there is only one God We are brothers and sisters children of our mother earth after all