Thirteen Moons

Thirteen Moons is a poem based on various sources depicting the life of the Jesuit scholar, Sebastian Rale, beloved priest to the Norrigewock Indians whose life he shared for thirty years. During these years he produced an Abanaki-French dictionary. He was hated and feared by the English settlers of the Province of Maine who considered him an agent of France and an instigator of Indian rebellion. Poet's note: After reading the history of Sebastion Rales, I wrote the first version of Thirteen Moons in the late 1970s. I self-printed a few copies and gave them around. They seemed popular, so I revised a version and submitted it to publishers in Canada, hoping for a French translation and a Native version. They did an attractive English, French version in Toronto but no Native American translation. It was soon was out of print. So I did another locally. David Francis, a Passamaquoddy, contacted me and asked if he could do a translation in his language. We did the three language version edition, with some hard-bound copies. Unfortunately, David Francis, a WWII veteran, died in 2017, but his work should be noted and appreciated in this edition.