Friday, April 24, 2009

Friday Ramble - Earth Song

Listen to things more often than beings.
Hear the voice of the fire, hear the voice of the water,
Listen in the wind to the sighing of the bush:
This is the ancestors breathing.
Those who are dead are never gone;
The dead are not down in the earth:
They are in the trembling of the trees,
In the groaning of the woods,
In the water that runs, in the water that sleeps,
They are in the hut, they are in the crowd.
Those who are dead are not ever gone;
They are in the woman's breast,
They are in the wailing of a child,
They are in the burning log and in the moaning rock.
They are in the weeping grasses, the forest and the home.
Listen to things more often than beings.
Hear the voice of fire, hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind to the sighing of the bush.
This is the ancestors breathing.

(Traditional Senegalese Song)

2 comments:

Sky said...

oh, i must share this with my sister. it is comforting. thank you for sharing this.

i hope you are doing ok. you don't chat with your readers to let us know how you are :( and some of are concerned!

Crayons said...

Hi kerrdelune
I know this text from Sweet Honey in the Rock. The photo that you place there is just so fitting in its complexity and majesty. Thank you.