The South Corner of Time hopi navajo papago yaqui tribal literature

Acknowledgements Introduction
Hopi Literature
Navajo Literature
Papago Literature
Yaqui Literature
Native American Literature: Other Sources


Morning and Myself

Nia Francisco 

i wake to see the morning
from outside our home
from within me

i walk at dusk
to greet dawn boy
    his sister
  and their mother
i say i am your grandchild
  and that i will
meet you some day

and as that i want to live
 of the flesh of earth
  of the flash of water
   of the flesh of sky

and I will always give
 the soles of my feet
  the water of my mouth
   the sweatbeads of my skin
    the tears of my eyes
     the urine of myself
      the placenta of my babies
and the cleansing water of our hair
                        and bodies
to earth
   to water and sky
in peace i go now
in peace we will walk
and in beauty we walk

nia francisco. "morning and myself" from Sun Tracks, vol. 2, no. 1 (fall 1975). Copyright ©1975 by nia francisco. Reprinted by permission of the author.

As printed in Larry Evers, ed. The South Corner of Time. Tucson, Ariz.: The University of Arizona Press, ©1980, p. 97.
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