Well-pleased

That asteroid hit Cancun

sixty six million years ago.

Adios Tyrannosaurus Rex.

But we still have butterflies,

swans, and peacocks.

Vesuvius barfed all over Pompeii,

spared the frescos and mosaics

but not the painters or the bakers.

Where did the Maya go?

Their jungled cities now

the home of parrots,

howler monkeys and lizards.

The Anasazi, same,

but the Hopi still remain

on their mesas,

Carving Katsina figures

from the roots of cottonwood.

I have one on my shelf:

Mudhead, the sacred clown.

Heaven split wide and furious,

and the spirit of God

told Jesus that he was

His much beloved son.

That He was well-pleased

with him. Then sent him

into the wilderness.

We are much loved.

Are we well-pleased

with ourselves?

The winter I turned eighteen

I wandered in Death Valley.

I feared no evil. Only loneliness.

That was my ignorance.

I was not well-pleased.

And was unaware 

of how much I was loved.

I got my Mudhead katsina

up on First Mesa a few years ago.

The Hopi village has been there

for eleven hundred years.

Three men were sitting in the sun

outside a stone house, carving

katsinas. The artist told me

about Mudhead, the sacred clown.

Many years ago the people

had to move away from where

they were living because of

a drought or warfare.

Two katsinas had to be left behind to die-

Koyemsi, Mudhead, who was blind,

and a paralyzed katsina, Tuhavi.

The people left them

with some food,

said a tearful goodbye.

They expected them to die.

But crippled Tuhavi, climbed onto

blind Koyemsi’s back and told him

where to walk. He hunted with

his bow and they survived

by cooperating with each other.

One night they were roasting

a rabbit when a huge Ogre

walked up their fire. They thought

he was going to kill them.

But the ogre shot his arrow

into the fire and the ashes

flew up into Koyemsi’s eyes

and his blindness disappeared.

Some of the sparks landed

on Tuhavi’s legs and he jumped up

and discovered that he could

walk again. Now healed, they

set off and eventually caught up

with their people and joyfully

reunited. Take care of each other

and you will survive, Love each

other and God will be well-pleased.