To What Has Nourished Me, Taos Pueblo Song
circa 1000 CE • New Mexico
"I have killed the deer. I have crushed the grasshopper And the plants he feeds upon. I have cut through the heart Of trees growing old and straight. I have taken fish from water And birds from the sky. In my life I have needed death So that my life can be. When I die I must give life To what has nourished me. The earth receives my body And gives it to the plants And to the caterpillars To the birds And to the coyotes Each in its own turn so that The circle of life is never broken."
Taos Pueblo Indian, "I Have Killed the Deer" in 883-884.
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