Smokehole Sky
Lyrics
Cedar smoke along the tide,
a raven watches ember-light.
He tilts his head where secrets hide,
the house of cedar sleeping bright.
A chief has bundled up the sky-
three knots of night the world can’t see.
The raven breathes a silent why
and slips inside the mystery.
Hush-hear the feathered wheel of night,
how shadow learns the shape of light.
Raven, steal the dark from time,
thread day across the winter line.
Loose stars like seeds from cedar twine,
bring back the sun we left behind.
Raven, carry through the smokehole high-
leave us a sky to navigate by.
He turned to dust, became a breath,
was born where laughter meets a cry.
A child who played with woven death
until the first small knots untied.
He tossed a spark-the sea turned glass,
the constellations broke and ran.
He threw the moon, a milk-white mass,
and warmed his hands on dawn’s first span.
Hush-hear the feathered wheel of night,
how shadow learns the shape of light.
Raven, steal the dark from time,
thread day across the winter line.
Loose stars like seeds from cedar twine,
bring back the sun we left behind.
Raven, carry through the smokehole high-
leave us a sky to navigate by.
Yéil! Yaahl!
Dís… Gugán…
Kúng… Juuyáay…
Feather-black, ember-bright-lift the light!
Raven, steal the dark from time,
thread day across the winter line.
Loose stars like seeds from cedar twine,
bring back the sun we left behind.
Raven, carry through the smokehole high-
leave us a sky to navigate by.
Leave us bright enough to see,
to steer by hope across the sea.