By Alliance Communications Coordinator Amy Durr
As we look to the new year, I read Joy Harjo’s poem Once the World Was Perfect with both sadness and hope. For certainly we are facing the consequences of our actions on this earth, including fear, greed, envy and hatred. “No one was without a stone in his or her hand,” is a truth we all must face.
Harjo’s wisdom comes from her unique, painful life experiences: “Every project Harjo has executed, every word she has written, every song she has voiced, is a tribute to and a continuation of the struggles of generations of Native Americans held together by their common belief in Native rights and by their love of Native languages and cultures,” says Darlington Chibueze Anuonye.
“Poets like Harjo ensure that the formerly colonized is not lost. There’s a scattering during colonialism, and there’s a gathering after it. Harjo does the work of gathering,” explains Anuonye. Whether we stand as the colonized or the colonizers, we all share the responsibility of healing and restoration.
Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on another
And shared a blanket.
A spark of kindness made a light.
The light made an opening in the darkness.
Harjo offers kindness as a solution to repair harm. Listening to many Native American voices has taught me the transformative power of viewing the world through kindness and reverence—extending this deep respect not only to people but to animals, plants, and even the stones beneath our feet.
An internationally renowned poet, performer, and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Joy Harjo served three terms as the twenty-third Poet Laureate of the United States.
Once the World Was Perfect
By Joy Harjo
Once the world was perfect,
and we were happy in that world.
Then we took it for granted.
Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind.
Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head.
And once Doubt ruptured the web,
All manner of demon thoughts
Jumped through—
We destroyed the world we had been given
For inspiration, for life—
Each stone of jealousy, each stone
Of fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light.
No one was without a stone in his or her hand.
There we were,
Right back where we had started.
We were bumping into each other
In the dark.
And now we had no place to live, since we didn’t know
How to live with each other.
Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on another
And shared a blanket.
A spark of kindness made a light.
The light made an opening in the darkness.
Everyone worked together to make a ladder.
A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world,
And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children,
And their children, all the way through time—
To now, into this morning light to you.
You can listen to Joy Harjo speaking her poem