Beautiful Valley
The image is a link to an alternate view.
Don't bother the earth spirit who lives here. She is working on a story.
It is the oldest story in the world and it is delicate, changing. If she sees
you watching she will invite you in for coffee, give you warm bread, and you
will be obligated to stay and listen. But this is no ordinary story. You
will have to endure earthquakes, lightning, the deaths of all those you
love, the most blinding beauty.
It's a story so compelling you may never
want to leave; this is how she traps you. See that stone finger over there?
That is the only one who ever escaped.
From Secrets from the Center of the World by Joy Harjo (words)
and Stephen Strom (images), University of Arizona Press.
© 1989 Joy Harjo & Stephen
Strom
- Secrets From The Center Of The World,
Joy Harjo; photographs, Stephen E. Strom
- (Sun Tracks Books, No. 17), University of Arizona Press.
Back to Joy Harjo's website
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