One time I worked in a mine

Where there’s now sunshine

It was like a giant grave

So I had to be brave

It was very dark and cold

I didn’t like mining for gold

When I was underneath 

I even thought of a wreath

I was even nervous

Thinkin’ of a funeral service

When I was workin’ in the mine

I thought of a box made of pine

I thought of the undertaker

So I prayed to my maker

It’s better to be above ground

Because I like to be around

I know my date of birth

But I hate going back in the earth

I don’t think of my expiry date

Because it’s a long wait

But I always wonder

When I’ll go back under

It’s up to my higher power

“Cause he knows the day an’ hour

When I was a kid this Elder gave me a Gwich’in name”CHIH AHAA”

Translated it means”walking ahead”

Allan Benjamin

CHIH AHAA

Allan Benjamin is a poet, a cartoonist, a fiddle player and a snowshoe racer from Old Crow, Yukon.  Allan is a Vuntut Gwich’in artist who provides cartoons and poems to What’s Up Yukon.  He introduces us to two sets of characters who represent Allan’s family and traditional Gwich’in life growing up in Old Crow.

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