Things a Shaman Sees

Everything that is -- is alive
on a steep river bank
there's a voice that speaks
I've seen the master of that voice
he bowed to me
I spoke with him
he answers all my questions
Everything that is -- is alive
little gray bird
little blue breast
sings in a hollow bough
she calls her spirits dances
sings her shaman songs
woodpecker on a tree
that's his drum
he's got a drumming nose
and the tree shakes
cries out like a drum
when the axe bites its side
all these things answer my call
Everything that is -- is alive
the lantern walks around
the walls of this house have tongues
even this bowl has it own true home
the hides asleep in their bags
were up talking all night
antlers on the graves
rise and circle the mounds
while the dead themselves get up
and go visit the living ones

-- Chukchee of Siberia1

1. David Cloutier, Spirit, Spirit: Shaman Songs, Incantations  (Providence: Copper Beech Press, 1973), pp. 32-33.