Eagle Butte

January 00, 2010

Eagle Butte

In the summer of 1994, July 17th to be exact, Habitat for Humanity (HFH) began a blitz build. Thirty new homes to be built in a week was their goal. Of course a lot of the preliminary work was done before the 1500 or so volunteers showed up to volunteer their services. The little town turned into a city of swarms of busy bee’s.

People from all over the U.S.A. as well as other countries were involved. Media of all stripes were there, cameras at the ready. Many of the donating corporation’s rosters and many CEO’s were in attendance. Family’s all worked together for the single purpose of helping each other help strangers in need of a home of their own

The compacting of the ground as well as the foundations were already completed or supposedly so, before the ‘real’ work week began. July 17th, Monday was the first day. For lots of reasons it was the day before I read about this happening that I had left that next day. It took three days total when finally arriving to volunteer.

To make a much longer story or groups of stories really, much shorter, let’s just say that when finally arriving HFH gladly accepted the pittance they required for mmy three day involvement. Five dollars a day for food and I was on the way to house #18. It was a Jimmy Carter Work Project besides; the rest is their history.

After that week I decided to stay in Eagle Butte, eventually building mmy own house there; after finding a little property with a small pole barn garage on it. Five years later after many amazing and not so experiences it was time to move on.

The mostly self built and designed structure, now two stories high with a lot of improvements both inside and out, was boarded up and sat like that until four or five years later when returning on mmy birthday for a visit. It needed human TLC

This poem is an adaptation really of one originally composed by Phil Lynott who was the leader of Thin Lizzy, an Irish Rock and Roll band. He’s no longer with us but his words and mmusic live on. After reading a lot of his work one particular poem hit home more than the others. The fact it did became a later tribute.

His poem was named after a town of his choosing, Dublin. The poem appeared in a little hard cover book of his poetry. One Christmas after a shared tour of our separate bands, he signed and handed out as gifts, a book of his poetry and lyrics to his original songs. Illustrations to some poems and lyrics were also in the book.

The following poem is one of them although titled differently. It related the same personal feeling is why I liked it so much. It seemed to adapt itself easily to the circumstances as well as the town where I lived, loved and moved on. Maybe a lot of your towns are like this and you can have the same feelings; it would seem so.

I hope this work signifies no disservice to Phil or his words. Hopefully anyone who reads this rearrangement of his work will know that I honour his memory and words with this version dedicated to a town and its people still in mmy heart:

Eagle Butte

After our affair
I'd swear that I'd leave
Eagle Butte

And in that time
I'd left behind the years,
The memories and the views
Of Eagle Butte

On the rez
Friends came to say
Fare well.
We'd laugh 'n joke
We’d smoke 'n poker
And later on the butte
I'd sigh over views.

How can i leave the town
That brings mme down
That has no jobs
Is blessed by God?

And at sea
With blowing hair
I'd think of you

Of Spruce Street clear
The color club there
Those of whom i care
Those of whom i love
The beauty of
The rez and
Eagle Butte

(R.I.P. Phil)