Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 423

 

Here are a couple of excerpts from a book I recently read, "Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems," by Joy Harjo.

Time is a being, like you, like me. Monahwee made friends with time, shared tobacco with time, so when he got on his horse to race his beloved warrior friends he had a little talk with time. Time said, “Get on my back, and we’ll fly free.” No matter how fast all the others raced, Monahwee and his horse always arrived long before it was possible . . . those were the best times. 

Sunrise 

Sunrise, as you enter the houses of everyone here, find us. 

We’ve been crashing for days, or has it been years. 

Find us, beneath the shadow of this yearning mountain, crying here. 

We have been sick with sour longings, and the jangling of fears. 

Our spirits rise up in the dark, because they hear, 

Doves in cottonwoods calling forth the sun. 

We struggled with a monster and lost. 

Our bodies were tossed in the pile of kill. We rotted there. 

We were ashamed and we told ourselves for a thousand years, 

We didn’t deserve anything but this— 

And one day, in relentless eternity, our spirits discerned movement of prayers 

Carried toward the sun. 

And this morning we are able to stand with all the rest 

And welcome you here. 

We move with the lightness of being, and we will go 

Where there’s a place for us.