Two Spirit Traditions: Navajo Prayer Poems
“Walking in Beauty”
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beautiful again
Hózhóogo naasháa doo Shitsijí’ hózhóogo naasháa doo Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo T’áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo Hózhó náhásdlíí’ Hózhó náhásdlíí’ Hózhó náhásdlíí’ Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me.
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long, may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen, may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful … again
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In 2017, my wife, Tracy and I prepared for a pilgrimage with my sister, Mary Klaff, and our niece, Lindsey, on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, in northern Spain. Preparation for the trip reminded me of the mighty words of the Diné (Navajo) People. Their prayers guided their steps as they endured their Long Walk. Their prayers are with them today, as they balance the ugliness of racism with the Beauty of their People. We prayed for our Navajo friends while we were are on the Camino Frances route and we will recite their poetic words of wisdom in the future to remind us of their natural insights.
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Linguistic Note:
The word “Hozho” in Dine’ (roughly translated from the Navajo) is the Concept of Balance and Beauty. It also requires individuals have consideration of the nature of the universe, the world, and man, and the nature of time and space, creation, growth, motion, order, and control. It also contains the cycle of life, which includes all the of Navajo concepts expressed in terms quite impossible to translate into English. Some Navajos might prefer the term: “Nizhoni” meaning “just beauty.”
Written by Robert S. Drake, for Tom Holm, Ph.D., University of Arizona American Indian Graduate Studies Program, Native American Religions and Spirituality.
