Dover Learning Center

Drink Softly, Little Deer

Little deer,
when you lower your head
to drink from this water,
do not forget the Earth Mother.

This river remembers everything.

It remembers the footsteps
of our grandmothers,
the songs carried by cedar smoke,
the prayers spoken beneath winter moons.

Drink softly.

The water is alive.

It carries the spirit of mountains,
the tears of rain clouds,
the voices of old rivers
that once taught our people
how to live gently upon the earth.

I place my hand beside the water
so you will know
we belong to this land
the way roots belong to trees.

One day,
when my own spirit becomes wind,
perhaps you will still come here,
beneath these pale flowers,
and remember
that someone once loved the earth enough
to speak kindly even to a thirsty deer.

🎨 Art by Serin Alar
🖊️Poem: Piahn