Flames spring from three small, split logs as they lay in ashes surrounded by a circle of stones.
The smoke stings the eyes and clings to strands of hair as it makes its way up to the opening in the tipi. The poles are shiny black like varnished ebony, stained from the weeks and months of continuous smoke from the sacred fire on LaFramboise Island. It is not a large fire but the continuous burning has already rotted the canvas of one tipi and the walls of the second replacement are brown. Only from the outside can one see the whiteness of the canvas outlining the ribs of the tipi poles. The fire has been burning for over a year sending up countless prayers for the Lakota people, for all people, for all creation.