The Swan's Bone Flute

I am the two-spirit,
The crosser.
I am fire and water.
My songs are in the rocks.
Black, white and red
Are my blazons.

Go down into the cave,
Down where spirits whisper,
On a long long journey,
Through the walls,
Through the rock,
Where human hands
Shine out of the darkness,
See what emerges
From the fissures.

From the earth
They have dug up a swan’s bone flute
And figurines of mammoth, bison and bear.

The footprints in the cave
Are signs of dancing.
A bear’s skull sits watching on a rock.

I set my foot
Upon the ladder of light
And start to climb
Out of human sight.

Stir the cauldron,
Boil the waters to perfection.

Come to the estuaries, islands, rivers and bogs:
There you will find
The barefoot priest and dreamer.

Did you come to talk to the dead?
To bargain for wisdom and protection?
What you see
Is through the horse’s eye.

Swan’s wings lift me
Into the blue
And I am gone.