Thursday, July 23, 2015

I Will Walk There Again

created for me by my dear friend,

In the ancient language the First People know,
there is no separate word that means The Wild.
The closest word for wilderness is 'home'.
It has been my soul's home since I was child.

There is no separate word that means The Wild.
Interdependent, its being lives in our being.
It has been my soul's home since I was a child.
The beauty of its being lies in our seeing.

Interdependent, its being lives in our being.
My spirit at rest  upon its wildest shores,
the beauty of its being lies in my seeing.
I will walk there again, as joyous as before.

My spirit at rest upon its wildest shores,
my closest word for wilderness is 'home'.
I will walk there again, as joyous as before,
in the ancient landscape the First People roam.


The idea for this pantoum (slightly irregular) came from my deep resonance with an article in Tofino Time Magazine by Tsimka Martin, about the traditional territory (hahuulthee) of the Ahousaht people. She quoted elder Levi Martin's words about there being no translatable word for wilderness to English. The closest he could come was the word "home".  The Nuu chah nulth people have always lived as part of the land, not as beings separate from it, (as the dominant culture lives).


9 comments:

  1. I do hope someday you return again, Sherry, to that wild shore! How cool that 'the unknown gnome' created that photo for you...he knows you well.

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  2. That's a beautiful photo/video. Your poem is beautiful too. I love that wild means home in the ancient language. I hope we preserve our wilderness, our home for future generations.

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  3. That is as it should be. One with, not separate.. Beautiful poem.

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  4. the word for wilderness is home. i like that. and you know, my hope for you is that you will return there sherry.

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  5. love this call of the wilderness and your responses to it...may you return to your home of beauty some day Sherry...

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  6. Lovely. In ancient India too people respected nature, wild animals and even worshiped them and lived in harmony but now the scene is very sad.

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  7. my closest word for wilderness is 'home'.... that sums it up beautifully - something that lives inside you...

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