On the Edge of the Mystery

 

Tashi Paddle School photo
tofinopaddle.com

For time beyond time,
ten thousand years,
this has been the territory
of the Nuu-chah-nulth,
"people all along the mountains
and the sea."
They lived in huge longhouses in Opitsaht,
a sheltered spot across the bay.
When the settlers came, some of the First Peoples
moved up into the mountains.
When they came down, years later,
they found they were the only ones
who survived the smallpox
the settlers brought.

This is still Tla-o-qui-aht ha-houlthee.
We settlers perch here, aware
of our privilege, grateful that
these wise people are as patient as they are
at how slowly we mumalthni become aware
of our place in the scheme of things.

We are living on the edge
of the mystery, where all things
are connected, a dimension
vaster than our limited comprehension
can grasp. Our intuition
tells us there is a bigger story
than the one we are living.

Our thoughts fly into the ether
where poetry lives, where dreams gather,
dropping down on us in starlight
to light our path.

Now another virus stalks us;
the People close their village gates.

It may be time to go up
into the far mountains,
time for the medicine man
to pray to the living land and water,
time to sing his healing song.
Time for us to grow quiet,
and listen to the wisdom
of the First People,
and what they have to say.