Friday, November 21, 2008

Corn



Corn

1.
Corn-grinding

Yonder, yonder
see the fair rainbow,
see the rainbow
brightly decked and painted!

Now the swallow bringeth
glad news to your corn,
singing, "Hitherward, hitherward,
rain, hither come!
White cloud hither come!"

Now we hear the corn plants murmur,
"We are growing everywhere!"

Hi, yai, the world, how fair!

2.
Harvest

Corn is ripe.
The corn is ready to be gathered,
in piles we sort the colored corn;
blue corn, white corn, yellow corn, red corn--
food for the people.

Blue corn ground fine on the rubbing stone,
blue corn for ceremonies,
blue corn fo the thin bread
that cooks on the hot rock,
blue corn the sweetest,
for the thin bread rolled up into a stick.

Red corn wrapped in husks.
Red corn baked in ashes.
White corn baked in the ashes.

Food for the People.
So all is well.
So all is well.
So all is well.


(Navajo Songs)

2 comments:

Jannie Funster said...

I like blue corn best too! Most tasty.


ole!

Glenn Buttkus said...

Yeah, the blue corn is tasty on some Tex-Mex-Indian dishes, but the red corn is a sight to behold. It's like the non-commercial apples you can find in the small orchards on old ranches in Eastern WA, all colors, even striped, and all kinds of wonderful new tastes.

Glenn