Peter Blue Cloud - Rattle
When a new world is born, the old Let us shake
turns itself inside out, to cleanse the rattle
and prepare for a new beginning. to call back
It is a rattlesnake
told by some that the stars are to dream back
small holes piercing the great the dancers.
intestine
of a sleeping creature. The earth is When the wind
a hollow gourd and earthquakes are sweeps earth
gas rumblings and restless dreaming there is fullness
of the sleeping creature. of sound,
What we are given
sleeping plant sings the seed a beat
shaken in the globe of a rattle, to dance by
the quick breath of the singer warms a drum
and awakens the seed to life. now joins us
The old man rolled fibres of and flutes
milkweed across his thigh, softly are like gentle
speaking to grandchildren, slowly birds and
saying
the thanksgiving to a sacred plant. crickets on
branches,
His left hand coiled the string as it swaying trees.
grew thin and very strong; as he The fan of
explained the strength of a unity winged hawks
of threads combined. brush clouds like
He took his streaks of
small basket of cocoons and poured white clay upon
grains of coarse sand, poured from a field
his hand the coarse sand like a of blue sky
funnel
of wind, a cone between hand and water base.
cocoon. The seeds in
Then, seven by seven, he bound the pod
these nests to a stick with the of a plant
string,
and took the sap of white blood are children
of the plant, and with a finger, of the sun
rubbed
the encircling string. of earth
And waited, holding that we sing
the rattle to the sun for drying. And we are
when
he shook the first sound, the a rainfall voice
children
sucked in their breaths and felt a plumed
strange
stirrings in their minds and and sacred bird
stomachs.
And when he sang the first song of we are
many,
the leaves of the cottonwood joined shadows come back
in,
and desert winds shifted sand. to protect
And the the tiny seedlings
children closed their eyes, the better we are
to hear tomorrow. a memory in
What sleeping plant sings the seed single dance
in the gourd of night within the which is all
hollow moon, the ladder going down, dancing forever.
down into the core of this good earth We are eyes
leads to stars and wheeling suns looking about
and
planets beyond count. for the children
What sound do they
is that in the moist womb of the sea; run and play
the softly swaying motion in a our echoes
multitude of sleeping seeds. our former joys
Maybe it in today?
is rattlesnake, the medicine singer. Let us shake
And the rattle
it is gourd, cocoon, seed pod, hollow for the ancients
horn,
shell of snapping turtle, bark of who dwell
birch,
hollowed cedar, intestines of upon this land
creatures,
rattle whose spirits
is an endless element in sound and joined to ours
vibrations, singing the joys of guide us
awakening
shushing like the dry stalks of corn and direct us
in wind, the cradle songs of night. that we
Hail-heavy wind bending upon may ever walk
a roof of elm bark, a harmony
the howling song that our songs
of a midwinter blizzard heard by be clear.
a people sitting in circle close to Let us shake
the fire. The fire is the sun, is the the rattle
burning core of Creation's seed, for the fliers
sputtering
and seeking the womb of life. and swimmers
When someone asked Coyote, why for the trees
is there loneliness, and what is the and mushrooms
reason and meaning of loneliness: for tall grasses
Coyote
took an empty gourd and began blessed by
shaking
it, and he shook it for a long time. a snake's passage
Then for insects
he took a single pebble and put it keeping the balance,
into the gourd, and again began to and winds
shake the gourd for many days, and which bring rain
the pebble was indeed loneliness. and rivers
Again going to sea
Coyote paused to put a handful of and all
pebbles into the gourd. Things of Creation.
And the sound Let us
now had a wholeness and a meaning shake the rattle
beyond questioning. always, forever.
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