If God believed in fences, We would not have the wind.

The Adair-Goodnight Project barbed-wires the land. In the Panhandle and beyond, it first eclipses the Indian’s hunting grounds, then the Cowboy’s free range as well. Andy Wilkinson’s song-poem for Standing Bear laments the passing…

Mi compadre, Buenas Noches,
Goodnight, my old friend,
I am wandering in my own land
And I can’t get home again.
We have lost the buffalo
Will we be lost like them?
Mi compadre, Buenas Noches,
Goodnight, my old friend. \

There’s only one Great Spirit
For all the tribes of men;
If He believed in hatred,
We would not be friends;
If he believed in fences,
We would not have the wind,
No, if God believed in fences,
We would not have the wind. \

I asked for help in Clarendon,
I said “I am Standing Deer.”
But the trail to my pueblo
You’ve hidden in barbed-wires.
I cannot travel by the sun,
I cannot use the stars,
For the trail to my pueblo
You’ve hidden in barbed-wires. \

Mi compadre, Buenas Noches,
Goodnight, my old friend,
I am wandering in my own land
And I can’t get home again.
We have lost the buffalo
Will we be lost like them?
Mi compadre, Buenas Noches,
Goodnight, my old friend. \

Andy Wilkinson
Standing Bear’s Lament
2002