The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee

by

N. Scott Momaday

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I am a feather on the bright sky

I am the blue horse that runs on 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 lustre 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 dawn

I am the roaring of the rain

I am the glitter of 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

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From The Gourd Dancer by N. Scott Momaday, Harper and Row
© 1976 N. Scott Momaday

Books by N. Scott Momaday

House Made of Dawn, HarperCollins. (Hardcover Commerative Reissue)

The Way to Rainy Mountain, Univ. New Mexico Press. (Hardcover Commerative Reissue)

The Names, Univ. Arizona Press. (Hardcover Commerative Reissue)

The Ancient Child, HarperCollins.

The Man Made of Words, Griffin. (Hardcover)

In the Presence of the Sun : Stories and Poems, St. Martin's Press.

In the Bear's House, St. Martin's Press.

          Children's Books

Circle of Wonder: A Native American Christmas Story, Univ. New Mexico Press. (Hardcover)

          Cassettes with Momaday reading his work

Storyteller, Sunset Productions.

House Made of Dawn the Names the Gourd Dancer: 'Tsoai and the Shieldmaker', American Audio Prose Library.

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You may hear the author read this poem [RealAudio] or you may hear him discuss the origin of his Indian name and then read the poem [RealAudio].

If you have never heard Scott Momaday read, you must!