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Remember
By Joy Harjo
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
Dear People of Ascension,
Every year around the 4th of July, I like to offer a poem and the question, what does it mean to love your country? These are troubled and exhausting times, and yet they demand that we find hope and courage to care for one another and the larger common good. Perhaps this lovely poem from Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022 (the first Native American so honored) and member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation, will invite new reflection and imagining about our belonging to the earth, to one another and to our shared stories.
With gratitude for you,
Liz
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