.................We are measured
by vastness beyond ourselves.
Dark is light.
Stone is rising. 

I don’t know
if humankind understands
culture: the act
of being human
is not easy knowledge. 

.......................Lean into me.
.......................The universe
sings in quiet meditation....... 

...............................................And the stone wall
I lean upon spins me
wordless and silent
to the reach of stars
and to the heavens within. 

It’s not humankind after all
nor is it culture
that limits us.
It is the vastness
we do not enter.
It is the stars
we do not let own us. 

-- from 'Culture and the Universe'; Simon Ortiz