Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories. 
Remember the moon, know who she is. I met her in a bar once in Iowa City.
Remember the sun’s birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath.
You are evidence of her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are: red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth, brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes,
their families, their histories, too.
Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the origin of this universe.
I heard her singing Kiowa war dance songs at the corner of Forth and Central once.
Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is. Remember.

Joy Harjo, Muskogee Tribe, American Indian, Of Rolling Waters and Roaring Wind: A Celebration of the Woman Song . WCC Publications, Geneva: 2000.