Holy Week Poetry--- Wednesday

Therefore I Must Tell the Truth

(A Navajo Song-- Tom Torlino)

I am ashamed before the earth:

I am ashamed before the heavens:

I am ashamed before the dawn:

I am ashamed before the evening twilight:

I am ashamed before the blue sky:

I am ashamed before the darkness:

I am ashamed before the sun.

I am ashamed before that standing within me which speaks with me.

Some of these things are always looking at me.

I am never out of sight.

Therefore I must tell the truth.

That is why I always tell the Truth.

I hold my word tight to my breast.

Taken from American Religious Poems, Edited by Harold Bloom, The Library of America