American Executor: Wahunsenacah

Across the tide where rivers kiss the dawn,

He walks with eyes that see the forest’s span;

His people call, their cries both fierce and drawn,

And every hunting ground obeys his plan.

Through smoke of fires where twilight shadows fan,

He moves with purpose, silent, measured, grand;

He guides the river, land, and hand.

The corn grows tall where earth receives his seed,

The warriors ready where the drumbeats stand,

Their fates entwined in honor and in deed,

He guides the river, land, and hand.

The forest bends beneath his knowing gaze,

The swans take flight where quiet waters gleam;

He threads the hunt through sunlight’s amber blaze,

And counsels chiefs beside the river’s stream.

His voice like thunder, steady as a beam,

Commands the villages in sun and sand;

He guides the river, land, and hand.

No storm can break the order that he weaves,

No rival challenge the domains he planned;

The young learn courage in the rustling leaves,

He guides the river, land, and hand.

Through treaties, trade, and wary truce he moves,

The strangers’ eyes are sharp, yet trust he lends;

He balances the gain the loss behooves,

And marks the limits no soul trespass bends.

The falcon stoops, the circle never ends,

All life within his sovereign grasp does stand;

He guides the river, land, and hand.

In council fire, the sparks of law ignite,

And every season bows beneath command,

While stars wheel overhead through endless night,

He guides the river, land, and hand.

Beneath the moon, the drumbeat carries far,

The dancers spin where ancestors await;

Each heart aligned beneath his guiding star,

Each story held by time and mortal weight.

The hunters’ paths the forest cannot sate,

The young and old abide by his command;

He guides the river, land, and hand.

The tide returns, the river speaks his name,

And echoes run along the rolling sand,

In every tree, in every sacred flame,

He guides the river, land, and hand.

So mark the place where Powhatan holds sway,

The hunter, king, the father of the tribe;

His law, his will, as constant as the day,

Through forest dark and light he does prescribe.

The rivers, forests, people all describe

A rule both gentle, fierce, and firmly planned;

He guides the river, land, and hand.

The earth remembers all his measured might,

The sun and stars observe, the night expands,

And future voices honor his insight,

He guides the river, land, and hand.

Envoi:

O ruler of the river, leaf, and sand,

Your reign through storms and strangers shall withstand;

All corners of your forest hear your stand;

Among the reeds and cove, your name is fanned;

He guides the river, land, and hand.