Dr. Rennard Strickland, a legal historian of Osage and Cherokee heritage, died January 5, 2021, in Norman at the age of 80, where he was the Senior Scholar in Residence at the University of Oklahoma Law Center.
The Bacone College Rennard Strickland School of Tribal Law & Criminal Justice’s Dean Wambli Sina Win was a student of Strickland’s, and holds him in the highest esteem.
“He was my law professor at the University of Oklahoma School of law, where I am sure his colleagues were appalled when he gave out his personal phone number to his students,” Wambli Sina Win said. “The mentoring relationship I’ve had with Rennard has lasted over 28 years and is an example of what can happen when there is a trust and bond between student and teacher.”
She shares the following original poem titled, “To Rennard,” which is “a tribute to my mentor and friend, written by a poet, my son, Wiconi Was’te James, who is an alumnus of Bacone, class of 2019.”
To Rennard
Born in might, shaped by eternity
Thought in flight, thine maternity
Strange world thine company around
Alien, unnatural place surrounding
Perfection forged in yesteryear
Searing pen, searing quill
Let thine heart rest, be still
Upon the radiant hill of age
Hero bespeak thy legend
Thy existence, thy final page
Before thine wings take end
Upon thy impending flight
Into thy eternal night
Before thine heart were old
While in might, young and bold
A red man’s sight and story
Seeking justice amid glory
To change the twilight and man
Scholar of law, Warrior of land
An eagle before us all along
Now upon the hill
The great bird without a song
The eagle they could not kill
Among thy hope thy dream
Counted amidst thine solar beam
Forbidden to fly to seek new span
Forsaken by prejudice in man
Thine lonely journey of height
Hath produced leader in flight
For thine brightest eye to follow
So far, far thy shadow below
The fields of life, the Indian and Buffalo
Oh but thy cost to rise
To lead, in example in challenge the skies
To take heart leap forth from ordinary life
Flap thine wings, tarry the strife
Leaving all but alone
The world of man, civilized stone
A heart is as hard as such
And just as heavy
Cold as law, as man to touch
Thine eyes have seen more
Thy struggle, thy works ascend
Upon thy lips and memory adore
Words in life you penned
Now and forever more
So off now you must again fly
So off into legend you go
My hero, my mentor, eagles never die
Soaring into the mystery we know
Fear not those who see
For every star returns to mystery
One which our hero shined so bright
One of which vanished from sight
Thine messenger, thine eagle
A man, a star, our peoples’ twilight.
©2021 by Wiconi Was’te James