The Corn Maidens

(A Pueblo Cycle)

The Chief Singer remembereth the Powers of Life:

Five are the Beings which alone are necessary---- Five are the Great Beings which man must know if he would live.

Whereof the first is the Shining Sun, father of all things illumined with life; Whereof the second is Earth, Mother of Men; Whereof the third is Water, who is Elder of All; And the fourth whereof is Fire, who is Elder of All.

Central is the fifth---- Central are our Brothers and Sisters of the Fields of Corn, Central are our Brothers and Sisters the Seeds of Growing Things.

Five are the Beings which alone are necessary---- Five are the Beings whereby men live.

All, all is beautiful! The Seeds of Life are beautiful! The Gifts of Life are beautiful! Men walk in beauty! The Children walk in beauty! ]

The Warriors of Light issue from Sipapú:

Hail to the Light! Hail to the Light!

The Sun of our Day is arisen, The glory of Dawn fills our eyes! Forth from the gloom of our prison, Greeting the azuring skies!

Led on by the Warriors of Morning, Led forth by the Archers of Light, New splendors our bodies adorning, We come from the mothering Night!

Our hearts are as dancers upleaping! Our spirits a jubilant song! Like summer-winged birds we come sweeping, Throng within luminous throng!

Hailing the Light in its wonder! Hailing the Heaven in its blaze! Where the Dawning hath burst it asunder, Filling with glory our days!

Hail to the Light! Hail to the Light!

The Earth is like a great drum beneath their feet:

The Earth is throbbing like a drum---- Booming, reverberating, Throbbing with deep pulsation....

So my heart is beating deeply, So my heart is reverberating....

The Corn Maidens are greeted with choric song:

O ye Maidens! O ye Maidens! O ye Maidens of the Corn! Treasure bringing, Pleasure singing, Joy with you is yearly born! With beauty ye our lives adorn!

Ye are the Sisters of the singing Trees; Ye are the Daughters of the sighing Fields; O’er your silks and tassels throng the humming bees Gathering the honeys which your pollen yields!

Round your grateful roots the nursing waters run, Under leafy shelters the swelling corn-ears form, With their precious kernels growing one by one, Ripening for the harvest-day, sheathéd from all harm!

Earth with fields a-dancing ye make beautiful! Earth with hues entrancing ever ye make fair! The vessel of rejoicing ye keep forever full! The singing of your voices fills the singing air!

O ye Maidens! O ye Maidens! O ye Maidens of the Corn! Planting, tilling, Baskets filling---- Joy with you is yearly born, Where with beauty, where with beauty Yearly ye our lives adorn!

The Flute Musician summoneth to cool slumber:

Cool wells of water, Clear wells of sweet water, I slumber beside them....

Star phantoms in water, Dream phantoms in water, I gaze on them slumbering....

Echoing voices of women, Echoing from the still water, I harken them slumbering....

Liquid melodies lingering, Floating faint o’er the water, Soothe my soul in its slumber....

Where the pools lie silent, Deep and placid the water, I sink into slumber....

Where life’s wanderings vanish, Sunk in the shadowless water, Fade the dim phantoms of slumber....

The Morning Star summoneth the Corn Maidens:

Come away! Come away! Come away!

Over the crest of the Southland, Over the marge of the Year!

Into the Gardens of Summer, Into Fields ever green, ever dear!

Unto the Land of Rejoicing, Unto the Dancers of Cheer!

Where the Sons of Morning waken through the circles of the Sky, And the zonéd World refreshened turneth with exultant cry, While the flaming Sun ascendant leapeth shouting zenith-high!

There the fields in glowing colors down the bright horizons throng; There the minstrel winds beguiling mellow music bear along, And the heart of life upspringeth in a jubilance of song!

Come away! Come away! Come away!

Into the Gardens of Summer, Over the marge of the Year! Fleet to the Land of Rejoicing---- Fleet with the Dancers of Cheer!

The Corn Maidens linger in the Place of Mist and Dew:

Mists of Morning dreamily ascending---- Earth and Heaven in one being blending.... Upcoming corn, Tender-green corn....

Breaths of Summer balmy-fragrant blowing---- Crystal dews upon the corn-leaves glowing.... Silkening corn, Tasseling corn....

Butterflies from honey-cups sweet sipping---- Pollen-dews upon the corn low-dripping.... Ear-forming corn, Kernelling corn....

Feathered wings of birds the blue sky covering---- Golden haze o’er all the cornfields hovering.... Ripening corn, Hardening corn....

Many colors through the wide fields dancing---- Laughing sunlight o’er the cornlands glancing.... Crisp-sheathéd corn, Harvest-ripe corn....

Sun’s Gleam parteth the mists and revealeth the Rainbow Woman:

Sun Gleam! Sun Gleam! Part thou the Mists of their Concealment! Cleave thou the clouds that do them veil!

Sun Gleam! Sun Gleam! Bare thou the way to their revealment! Blaze to their biding-place swift trail!

The Choir watcheth with eagerness:

Lo, now she cometh glory-vestured---- Daughter of Joy! Daughter of Day! Lo, now she cometh beauty-splendored, Crested with Sun-Father’s ray!

She bursteth the seals of the Night, The lair of the hidden layeth bare! She scattereth with lances of light The demons of Earth and of Air!

She maketh still places to shout, The caverns of silence to sing! The choirs of the hills wide about With joy of her radiance ring!

Lo, she darteth her arrows flame-feathered! The fog-hidden bursteth aglow! Up, up, from the arches of crystal Springeth the Mist-Mother’s Bow!

The Rainbow Woman approacheth the Zenith:

O Woman of the Rainbow, we hail thee! Daughter of Sun Gleam, we hail thee!

The Place of Concealment is found! Abode of the precious Corn Maidens!

The Choir chanteth the beauty of the World:

All, all is beautiful! Once again all is beautiful!

The Fathering Sun, The Mothering Earth, Yearn unto one another, Warm unto one another, Where all is beautiful!

The rain-fringéd clouds, The light-gleaming dew,---- Crystal of Heaven, Crystal of Earth,---- In their freshness all is beautiful!

Fair blossoms of flowers, Fair pollens of corn,---- The meadows rejoice in them, The fields rejoice in them,---- In their fragrance all is beautiful!

Colored plumes of the World, Colored kernels of corn,---- Day they make precious, Life they make precious,---- In their fruitfulness all is beautiful!

Yea, all, all is beautiful! The Seeds of Life are beautiful! The Gifts of Life are beautiful! Men walk in beauty! The Children walk in beauty!

They gather at the mud-walled church, A crew of motlied folk, In gala dress their saint to bless, In striped and fringéd cloak.... ]