Tribute to Black Hawk

I read the life of a man in the space of two hours. I absorbed the cultural opinions of a dead man in 120 minutes. For one-twelfth of a day, I felt his vibrant life beat against my fingers.

And my ringing ears heard his just pain yell deafeningly in history.

You will live on, Black Hawk, behind my pale face and inside my crinkled brain. You will live on longer than was your destiny. Your dry bones may rest, unmoved, in your grave. But your life is left in a book entitled, The Life of Black Hawk--and in a mind entitled, BCL.