Salute to a Dakota Chief, A Commemorative Poem by Gene Pinkney

Salute to a Dakota Chief:
For Woody Keeble

"Blessed be the Lord my strength who teaches my hands to war
and my fingers to fight” ( David, Psl. 144: 1)

“ . . .and ". . .where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty"
(II Cor 3:17)

Here's to Woodrow Wilson Keeble,

Gentle Giant, fighting Sioux;

Here's to one who fought for freedom

Doing work the fearful dare not do.

It was Woody 'gainst a mountain

And a Chinese red brigade;

Not the kind of odds most soldiers like,

But this warrior faced them unafraid.

And when the guns fell silent,

Many enemy lay dead,

But Woody's men were still alive

(A red man too was badged with red.)

I salute you Woody Keeble--

Bard to Sculptor, soul to soul–

It's men like you, the fearless few

Who pay their nation's heaviest toll.

You take the scars, you shed the blood

In fox holes, swamps, and hills--

Living on K's in sand and mud,

Killing the pain with jokes and pills.

Why wouldn't the Lord's Last Supper

Catch your warrior-sculptor's eye?

For sacrifice knows sacrifice,

Knows sometimes people have to die.

You saw in Jesus one sent down

To lead the lost and wounded home,

Who died to make a way for love

Marked off with blood, His own.

To make a way for simple folk

To dwell in peace and liberty,

God raised up braves to bear the yoke

And blunt the spears of tyranny;

For tyranny's a noxious harm

That evil twists the truth to spread

Unless the brave rise up in arms.

To crush the lying tyrant's head..

Freedom survives only where braves

Rise up in her behalf;

This truth escapes concession's slaves,

Who mutter from the darkling left;

They'd seek appeasement slavishly

And compromise with hell.

Thank God for men like Keeble!

Let us decorate them well!

Three purple hearts, a cross, a star

Won in two brutal, bloody wars?

How many young men must he save?

How heavy a cross be bourne?

Let's give him the medal of honor,

The highest congress gives.

Though Woody Keeble's soul has flown,

His mighty legend lives:

A fast ball nobody could hit,

A nature kind and full of fun,

A sculptor with a soldier's wit

Put his chisle down and took up his gun.

Both he and Roger Maris have

But home-town halls of fame.

And will, 'till blocks and potentates

Deflate or quit the game;

For truthful legends do not die;

God wants the truth to 'out'.

So all who fought for liberty

Can hear their grateful nation's shout,

'Well Done!'

And to Woody Keeble,

Warrior, 'Chief,' from old Waubay,

May your praise resound past Wahpeton

And justice reign today.

May 19, 2006

Recent news reports suggest that Woody Keeble will finally actually receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. I certainly hope those reports are true. G.P. Oct. 2006

Gene Pinkney, 5/19/06

Other Poems by Gene Pinkney, North Dakota Poet