IN PURE STREAMS

In pure streams of Si Si Wiss
I bathe.
Like the icy torrent
running down from Cultus mountain.
Pure streams of Si Si Wiss.
Plunging in naked
nothing remains.
Stepping out again
clean to the bone
like First World People.

Hearing suddenly
wind's laughter
racing through hemlock
and Douglas fir;
heron's cry
out where one bright beam
falls from skies of shifting grey
across blue and misty islands
away westward.

Rising naked from cold depths,
hearing,
seeing,
for the first time.

Bathing in pure streams of Si Si Wiss.

The ancient sound,
heartbeat,
only heard after bathing,
drumming through many hills
and mountains,
broad, sandy estuaries of riverbank,
where bear comes ambling,
a salmon in one paw,
and a thousand streams
come whispering their way
to the inland sea.

I heard the drum,
bathing in pure streams of Si Si Wiss,
and a thousand voices singing
on Cultus mountain at midnight
in a storm.

Ancient memory.
Pure streams of Si Si Wiss.
I plunge in
forgetting about Mind
and No Mind.
And plunge out
into sparkling air
finding Original Mind,
the Mind of Nature.

Knowing squirrel
and owl
and slug man
are bathing with me
in pure streams of Si Si Wiss.

Let's plunge again
and see if we can remember
what songs the fern people sang
in this Holy Land
on the Northwest corner
of Turtle continent.


by Corby Ingold

(originally featured in the Spring 1998 issue of Red Cedar Bark.)

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Note: Si Si Wiss, usually translated as "sacred breath" or "sacred water," is an indigenous spiritual tradition of the Northwest Coast Peoples, originally practiced from the middle of the Oregon coast to the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Si Si Wiss includes songs, dances, stories, hands-on healing, and ceremonies. Corby was initiated into the Si Si Wiss tradition by his teacher, Whis.stem.men.knee or "Walking Medicine Robe," in 1985.

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Corby's Writings: Pathways and Reflections
Ancient Wisdom, Modern Journeys
www.corbyingold.com