For they saw the People
like a Great River . . .
spreading out upon the land,
spreading out across the waters,
dividing down a thousand thousand paths
not yet seen.
AND A SENSE OF TOMORROW
ENTERED THEIR HEARTS
AND NEVER AGAIN LEFT THEM.
SUCH WISDOM IS OUR GIFT
FROM THOSE WHO WENT BEFORE.
MAY WE OFFER EQUAL MEASURE
TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW US.
(Pg. 64)
LONG AGO...
Our People lived in loose groups
and wove the pattern of their days
through trees so tall sun was seldom seen.
IT WAS AN EASY TIME,
A time when the mere extension of an arm
was greeted by some ripened fruit . . .
A time when water
was often gleaned from trees
as from earth,
as its constant cascade was captured
in leaves and the forks of branches . . .
the ground below
being often sodden and dangerous.
SO IT WAS THAT THE PEOPLE LIVED CONTENT
FROM TIME BEYOND TIME . . .
UNTIL THE WORLD BEGAN TO CHANGE.
(Pg. 314)
Now
It was the nature of our People
to move in loose groups
in a nearly northerly direction.
As this pattern continued
we learned the ways of this new land
so that not all was eaten,
but some was saved . . .
not all was drunk,
but some water retained.
AND
THESE THINGS FOR US WERE A GREAT LEARNING.
(Pg. 316)
WHEREAS
Space on the Earth
was one of the thoughts of the People
in deciding for a new land,
learning was in their mind also.
For much had been learned and was preserved, still,
from along the northward path
and great and equally preserved
was our Edge of Ocean learning.
HOW MIGHT IT BE TO ADD TO THESE LEARNINGS
An awareness
of the nature of land to the East of before?
(Pg. 331)
THIS WALKING PEOPLE
Maintained
their self-sustaining walk to the East,
learning always,
learning at last
the cold winter wisdom of clothing
and the value, therefore, of age.
THIS LEARNING PEOPLE
Continued their walk past mountains
and over the level places,
finding at last a new Learning Place
at the northern edge
of many high southern mountains,
waiting eagerly for wisdom
to wash down the valleys,
carried by stream waters.
(Pg. 379)
WE DO NOT KNOW,
FOR IT HAS NOT BEEN RECORDED,
THE THOUGHTS
THAT PRECEDED THIS DECISION
TO MOVE ON EAST,
AWAY FROM WISDOM WASHING DOWN.
Perhaps again winters grew colder . . .
or perhaps it seemed enough had been learned.
Perhaps other Peoples came to live so nearby
that sustenance grew more difficult to find.
WE DO NOT KNOW
WHAT THOUGHTS THEY SHARED
AND YET WE KNOW
They did again begin their eastward march,
which led them at last to another Ocean
as they expected it should.
(Pg. 379)
NOW
As the People maintained a wandering path
along the course of one great river,
moving East or South,
the river grew in waters
as many small waters
joined this larger stream.
NOW
The People felt an eager anticipation,
for surely such a swelling river
presaged the birth of some great water.
NOW
All sustained a great will to learn
whether this great water
would be some great lake,
repository of many rivers,
or whether it might yield at last
the ocean’s edge
anticipated by so many of those
who went before.
(Pg. 382)
AND THEN ALL THINGS CHANGED.
And a sound came to us
like the distant roll of thunder...
And the People
cried out in anguish at too much change
and could not run for falling
and some were crushed by rocks falling down
and none could anywhere stand.
But those coming down from the Mountains
to fill up the new sand gave a great cry
and cried DANGER
and cried RUN AWAY FROM OCEAN
and cried OCEAN COMING LIKE A GREAT WALL . . .
THERE BEFORE THEM
WAS THE CENTER OF THEIR WORLD
risen up like an angry Mountain
risen up like an enraged Bear
risen up beyond a Great Storm’s fury. . .
IT CAME LIKE A CRUSHING ROLLING DEATH...
FELL UPON THEM
AND RETURNED TO OCEAN
So that those high enough on the Earth Mountain
to escape this Water Mountain
watched in horror
AS ALL BELOW THEM WASHED AWAY.
(pp.18-19)
FOR THREE DAYS
THERE WAS NO WISDOM
ONLY SORROW
WAS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE.
NOW . . . AT LAST
Someone spoke and asked . . .
“Are there any among us
who were first?”. . .
And to these
We turned for Wisdom. . .
“If you walk North and East and also North
you come to Walk by Waters
and are able in that way
to walk North of Ocean
to the Great Island That Lies Beyond . . .
following this way
are many herds if Ocean is low
and only Two-Legs if Ocean is high.” . . .
AND
WE ARE THE CHILDREN
OF THOSE WHO WENT NORTH.
(pp.26-27, 32)
Thirty-five of the People
were strong enough to carry packs . . .
Seventeen more
were not yet so strong,
and three of these
must be always carried.
THESE WERE THEY
who crossed Walk by Waters,
THESE WERE THEY
whose unceasing movements
carried the possibility of Tomorrow
from one Great Island to another,
THESE WERE THEY
who laid out our path
on the back of Turtle Island.
FOLLOWING THIS WATER PATH
THEY GAVE US THE GIFT
OF TOMORROW
(Pg. 101)
It was in their mind
that East
had been more often their direction
than South.
For this reason
it seemed to them that somewhat West
was necessary to find Ocean.
And for this reason
they sent small groups out again and again
to find a westward path
through these never-ceasing mountains.
(Pg. 208)
AND THIS WAS THE WAY OF IT.
Bright shores met green hills to the South
so that the patient undulation of the land
rose in no way sharply,
as the Center of our World had done.
And yet Looks-Over-Water access
was to be found, here and there,
Land level enough
for a whole People to join in community,
High enough
so that a distant view of Ocean was possible,
access to Ocean a somewhat walk away.
Farther South they went in searching
until a river of some greater proportion
was reached,
this river flowing more swiftly into Ocean.
Beyond it was a rise of land
and beyond that
others of those
who walk the land on no more than two legs
might be seen.
(Pg. 267)
The People
still purposing some eastward Ocean,
mainly intended to cross these mountains
in an easterly direction.
AND YET,
winters being what they were . . .
especially in the higher mountains . . . .
from time to time
they tended also South. . .
AND ONE THING IS KNOWN . . . .
that during all this time
they met no other People . . .
so that it was their thought
that they had at least
these Never Ending Mountains
to themselves,
others preferring, it would seem,
the flatter land.
(pp.435-438)
NOW FOR OUR PEOPLE,
THIS WAS THE WAY OF IT.
FOR EASTWARD
washed a changing Ocean of Grass ...
GRASS SO TALL
the tallest man
might easily disappear therein.
GRASS SO TALL
no vision at all
beyond an outstretched hand
might be obtained.
Nor was it anyone’s wish
to follow a wandering stream path.
Rather
they chose a straight path East,
greeting Dawn Woman each morning
with a cry of recognition.
(Pg. 528)
NOW IT CAME TO BE
That the People
lived at the edge of a river
they called O-Hi-Yo
and they valued this river greatly.
FOR THIS REASON
They had chosen
as their new Center Place . . .
A bend in the river so great
that the river itself nearly surrounded them,
washing the shores
from East to South to West.
And also to the North
was land so wet as to be called swamp . . .
So that, living here gave no confusion
with disparate others . . .
AND
This river-washed land
was great enough
so that the People
could learn and grow and prosper.
(Pg. 551)
NOW
HEAR OF THEIR ARRIVAL.
Hear how a People
continued purposefully East
until the sharpest ears
heard a distant sound
and the smell of salt met them.
Hear how they continued
in this slow and steady manner
until anyone at all from among them
might stand hip-deep
in a new salt Ocean.
(Pg. 673)
AND SO THIS IS HOW IT SEEMED TO US . . . .
Nowhere along the southern edge
of this Great and Beautiful Lake
was there any sign of others
who preferred this place.
REASURED IN THIS MANNER . . .
We sent for those we had left behind,
divided ourselves
into appropriate communities,
chose places
along the southern edge
of this Great and Beautiful Lake,
and arranged ourselves
in such a manner
as to predict a long future.
(Pg. 720)
LET THIS BE ANOTHER OF OUR LEARNINGS.
LET US REMEMBER
THAT TODAY’S USUAL PATH
MAY BE TOMORROW’S DIVERSITY.
LET US REMEMBER
TO SING OF EACH PATH,
HOWEVER USUAL IT MAY SEEM . . .
So that children
born to no Ocean
yet remember the taste of salt.
So that children
born to no mountain
remember its height
So that children
born to no continuing walk
yet hear the footfalls.
SO BE IT.
(Pg. 479)