TOWER OF THE FOUR WINDS

THIS TOWER IS A TRIBUTE TO OGLALA SIOUX HOLY MAN, BLACK ELK (1863-1950), AND NEBRASKA POET LAUREAT JOHN G. NEIHARDT (1883-1976), WHO IN HIS BOOK BLACK ELK SPEAKS CAPTURED BLACK ELK'S VISIONS. THESE VISIONS INSPIRED REV. F.W. THOMSEN, PROFESSOR EMERITUS DANA COLLEGE, TO DESIGN THE MOSIAC.
THE UNIVERSAL MESSIAH WITH OUTSTRETCHED ARMS BLESSING ALL PEOPLE STANDS WITHIN THE TREE OF LIFE, AROUND THEM IS AN EVER-WIDENING CIRCLE OF LIGHT FORMING THE HOOP OF THE WORLD WHICH HOLDS ALL LIVING THINGS. SINGING BIRDS FLY BETWEEN THE COTTONWOOD LEAVES RADIATING FROM THIS SACRED TREE. TWO ROADS CROSS THIS HOOP OF THE WORLD. BLACK ELK SAID, "THE GOOD ROAD AND THE ROAD OF DIFFICULTIES YOU HAVE MADE TO CROSS: AND WHERE THEY CROSS, THAT PLACE IS HOLY."

DEDICATED 27 JUNE 1987
BLACK ELK NEIHARDT PARK CORPORATION

Transcribed from a photograph of the inscribed bolder near the base of the monument.