Thursday, December 22, 2016

An Indian Calendar

An elementary school teacher writing in the recent Kyeongyang magazine introduces the readers to an American Indian calendar. Indians lived very close to nature and she offers the calendar as a way to experience surroundings instead of just a series of numbers. 

January- a month in which we remain deep in thought/ difficult to accept the cold/ a month in which branches break from the weight of the snow/  the sun lacks the strength to melt snow/ where the wind scatters the snow hither and thither.

February-a month to walk alone/ return of the wild geese/ blowing of the wind: harbinger of future flowers/ lack of food makes the bones tingle/ purification of both body and spirit/ frost shines with the light of the sun/ we grow older/ a slow month.

March- a month that energizes the heart/ a month,  always the same/ water flows into the reservoirs/ strong winds sweep away the dead branches and we have new buds/ the whispering wind is present/ baby spring is here.

April- the month we feel the joy of life/ sleeping with seeds by the bed/ nature again receives life/ weather becomes warmer/ leaves begins to give their greeting.

May- waiting month/ remembering the dead/ laziness creeps in/ big leaf month.

June- the month that brings change/ weather becomes warmer/ without a word we gaze on the spider webs/ a month of talk.

July-The month we can't just stay in the tent doing nothing/ gaze at the shine of the fruit/ branches begin to break because of fruit.

August- the month in which we forget all/ filled with joy / we see the silver waves of corn before us/ all is ripening/ leaves are beginning to lose their luster.

September- gathering month/ the spirit is high/ grass is dry/ end of the fruit/ leaves begin to fall. 

October- wait for me until I come back in a month/  changes are made/ big wind/ poverty begins to appear/ mountains appear on fire.

November- a good time for walks/ not everything is disappearing/ water becomes dark within the leaves/ time of gathering.

December- another month in a new world/ silence/  non-possessing month/ everything begins to freeze/  branches begin to break/ first snow/ the sun leaves its spot in the South to move on its journey to the North. 

We have in this survey according to the author both poetry and philosophy.

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