Plainview: I
There in the hollow of the hills I see,
Eleven magpies stand away from me.
Low light upon the rim; a wind informs
This distance with a gathering of storms
And drifts in silver crescents on the grass,
Configurations that appear, and pass.
There falls a final shadow on the glare,
A stillness on the dark, erratic air.
I do not hear the longer wind that lows
Among the magpies. Silences disclose,
Until no rhythms of unrest remain,
Eleven magpies standing on the plain.
They are illusion—wind and rain revolve–
And they recede in darkness, and dissolve.
By N. Scott Momaday
From In the Presence of the Sun,
Used by permission of the author.
Carnegie, Oklahoma, 1919
This afternoon is older
than the giving of gifts
and the rhythmic scraping of the red earth.
My father’s father’s name is called,
and the gift horse stutters out, whole,
the whole horizon in its eyes.
In the giveaway is beaded
the blood memories of fathers and sons.
Oh, there is nothing like this afternoon
in all the miles and years around,
and I am not here,
but, grandfather, father, I am here.
By N. Scott Momaday
From In the Presence of the Sun,
Used by permission of the author.
The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee
I am the feather on the bright sky
I am the blue horse that runs in the plain
I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water
I am the shadow that follows a child
I am the evening light, the luster of meadows
I am an eagle playing with the wind
I am a cluster of bright beads
I am the farthest star
I am the cold of the dawn
I am the roaring of the rain
I am the glitter on the crust of the snow
I am the long track of the moon in a lake
I am a flame of four colors
I am a deer standing away in the dusk
I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche
I am an angle of geese in the winter sky
I am the hunger of a young wolf
I am the whole dream of these things
You see, I am alive, I am alive
I stand in good relation to the earth
I stand in good relation to the gods
I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful
I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte
You see, I am alive, I am alive
By N. Scott Momaday
From In the Presence of the Sun,
Used by permission of the author.