COPAL CLOUDS, BURNING MEMORY

"Those who have a memory are able to live in

the fragile present. Those with no memory

don't live anywhere." From the Chilean film,

'Longing For The Light.'

By chance, Sunday, the
plaza, dancers with rattles
on their ankles, rattles
in their hands, from

five to eighty years, dancing
in the wind, dancing
in the wind, the wind
loves them, the Sun

loves them, the Earth
loves them, the stones
beneath their praying feet
loves them, they stand in

a circle, two young men
climb the Christian cross,
making it their own,
making it beautiful,

making it ancient, these

Turtle Islands remember

them, these Turtle Islands

love them, sing to them,

to us, of Beauty,

of Beauty that never

ever dies, She will

survive us, the rattles

sing this, pray this,

sing, this ancient song

to Beauty- two young

women burn sweet copal,

circle the altar, the ancient

cross of Beauty, dancing,

swirling copal, dancing, swirling

the Sacred, and the Sacred

loves them, the Sacred

loves us, the Sacred

will survive us, the copal

burns, creating clouds of

memory, the two young women

dance this for us, to

remember, for us, to

remember- they stop,

still, conch shells to

their lips, call the

Spirit to the center of

the altar, to the center of

Beauty, to the center of

the Sacred, to the center of

our selves, to the center of

each other- I see they've

left a place for me

in the circle, a small

space, I fit, we

turn North, rattles,

the East, rattles,

the South, rattles,

the West, rattles,

singing praying singing,

and the wind loves us,

the Sun loves us,

the Earth loves us,

the Sacred loves us,

Beauty loves us,

conch shells to their

lips, Spirit loves us,

Spirit lives in us, oh

memory, this will survive

us, this will survive

us, this will survive

us, the rattles sing

to us, today, sudden

rainbows we are, oh

rattles, by chance.

And memory.

*To the Native dancers in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,

this Turtle Island, all the Pueblos, who keep our Sacred

Earth spinning, dancing, so beautifully, on her axis, in this

time of shifting change. ONE PEOPLE, ONE PLANET...

OCCUPY our planet, the Sixth Sun begins to warm us all.

Alma Luz Villanueva