Her Shawl Is Yellow

A poem by Sadie Red Wing Spirit Lake Dakota/Cheyenne River Lakota

Tȟášiná Zí Wiŋ emáčiyapi.Tȟášiná Zí Wiŋ is what they call me.
Her Shawl Is Yellow is what they call me.
Or Yellow Shawl Woman,
Or Yellow Blanket Woman,
Or She Is Covered in Yellow.

Zí
Yellow
Yellow represents my family.
Zitkaƞna Zí Wašté is my Tuƞkaƞšina Mní Wakaƞ.
Zitkaƞna Zí Wašté is my Spirit Lake Dakȟóta Grandfather.
Pretty Yellow Bird is my father’s father.


Zí
Yellow
Yellow is a direction in the medicine wheel.
The direction of the south.
The direction where Black Elk saw buckskin horses.
The direction of the Fourth Grandfather, or He Who Is the Place You Are Always Facing [south].
The direction of the Fourth Grandfather who holds the stick with birds singing on its branches.

Zí
Yellow
The color of the Tȟašíyagmuŋka who gave our people their language.
The color of the meadowlark who gave our people their language.
The color of pȟeźútazízi that gave our people their medicine.
The color of bitter root that gave our people their medicine.

Zí
Yellow
The color of the sun that gives us life.
The color of corn wasná that feeds all the people.
The color of buffalo gallstone paint to decorate our parfleche luggage.
The color of grass that tells us winter is coming.

I am Tȟášiná Zí Wiŋ.
I am Yellow Shawl Woman.
I am covered with the yellow shawl like the feathers of the meadowlark and my grandfather.
I carry the yellow virtue and value with me humbly and proudly.
Her Shawl Is Yellow is what they call me.
Tȟášiná Zí Wiŋ emáčiyapi.