Walking in Beauty
(A prayer from the Dine’ Nation)
Today I will walk out, today everything unnecessary will leave me,
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be forever happy, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with Beauty below me.
I walk with Beauty above me.
I walk with Beauty all around me.
My words will be Beautiful.
In Beauty, all day long, may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen, may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With Beauty before me, may I walk.
With Beauty behind me, may I walk.
With Beauty below me, may I walk.
With Beauty above me, may I walk.
With Beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering a trail of Beauty,
lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering a trail of Beauty,
living again, may I walk.
It is finished in Beauty.
It is finished in Beauty.
Aho.
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Visual poetry.
The Navajo’s moved into the area they live in 900-1000 years ago and displaced (killed and enslaved) the indigenous people who lived there before them. The phrase “first nations” is popular among Indian activists but in general all of the tribes present in North America in 1492 where most likely the third nation, or the third wave of massive migration from Asia. They killed off and enslaved the first and second nations.
And yes that is the way of the world. The strong displace or subsume the weak.
I second GVDL’s comment. Every nation that ever existed was bought with blood, from the ruins or conquest of the previous. If a people can’t or won’t defend their country, they will lose it to someone else. It is a fact of life. It is a rare thing when the new nation is better than the old. The United has been so far one of those rare instances. The Anasazi or Hisatsinom abandoned their former homes after drought and warfare made them too weak to survive. The Athabascans, Navajo, Apache, Comanche, made of sterner stuff came in and made it theirs.
How beautiful she is, with minor makeup and modest dress.
Navajo means ‘head basher’ in Tewa.