THANKSGIVING WORD SOUND

[David Sparenberg]

Whenever I come upon a pure talking stone, a bird’s feather, a shell from the surging sea, I take it up, I lift it up, I say the word-sound Hey-ya-tah-ho.

 

I do not know if this is a word from one of the many languages of the Earth. Surely that is possible, but I do not know. Arising from my soul, honoring relationships, in my imagination Hey-ya-tah-ho means “This is.”

 

So whenever I walk up to a gift from nature, I take it up, I lift it up, I make the sound Hey-ya-tah-ho, I say to the Earth and Sky, “This is!” I say it slowly, lingering over each syllable.

 

Spontaneously and but for an instant there is a surge of power, a radiance of joy.

 

The word-sound is but one half of my thanksgiving word; one of two bending poles of communion. When the sound exits from my mouth and goes out to Earth and Sky, Hey-ya-tah-ho, “This is,” is heard to the Earth Drum and beating of my heart. The other pole, the second half, is, “I too am here;” a silence prayer.

 

Earth feels this presence. Sky feels this presence. And I am at peace and in the way of belonging.

 

My word-sound belongs of the moment, yet like rolling thunder it is vast, and it is ancient and outside of time. Ancestors dance in the waves of gratitude.

 

David Sparenberg
12 July 2012