Once The World Was Perfect - In The Rear View Mirror With Joy Harjo

Once the World Was Perfect

BY JOY HARJO (1951 - )

Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world.

Then we took it for granted.

Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind.

Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head.

And once Doubt ruptured the web,

All manner of demon thoughts

Jumped through—

We destroyed the world we had been given

For inspiration, for life—

Each stone of jealousy, each stone

Of fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light.

No one was without a stone in his or her hand.

There we were,

Right back where we had started.

We were bumping into each other

In the dark.

And now we had no place to live, since we didn't know

How to live with each other.

Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on another

And shared a blanket.

A spark of kindness made a light.

The light made an opening in the darkness.

Everyone worked together to make a ladder.

A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world,

And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children,

And their children, all the way through time—

To now, into this morning light to you.

***

Source: Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2015)

***

Joy is a poet, musician, playwright, and author. She is the incumbent United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honour

***

In a strange kind of sense, [writing] frees me to believe in myself, to be able to speak, to have voice, because I have to; it is my survival (JH)

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