"Dreaming Mountains"

These verses were written by Apache Indian students of the 7th and 9th grades of the Indian school at San Carlos. The teacher, Dona Van Hooser Corwin, has included them in a manuscript she is compiling: "The Path to the Blue Sky."

MY ARIZONA

This is my home, Arizona.

Those are my cloud-shadowed mesas. my quiet dreaming mountains.

That is my wickiup in the sun.

Come! Let us listen to the running of her streams.

Hush! Let us know the glad-sadness of her birds.

This is my home, Arizona.

Land where my people sing.

Alice Antonio Ivan

SHADOWS AND DARKNESS

I do not believe the first living cell floated upon the waters of the sea.

I do not believe that the story of man can be traced from the jelly fish and the reptile. There is so little I know, and the rest is darkness but these things I do not believe.

The shadow of the question mark follows me, and I shall push it on and on to the place where I hope to find an answer.

If I had wandered out of the mud and the slime I would have chosen wings and the wide blue sky of the world.

Shadows and darkness follow me, as my winged brothers follow the pathway which cuts the sky. My heart beats cold and sad as I watch.

Willa Penyata