First Morning

By Joy Harjo

This is the first morning we are without you on earth.

The sun greeted us after a week of rain

In your eastern green and mountain homelands.

Plants are fed, the river restored, and you have been woven 

into a path of embracing stars of all colors

Now free of the suffering that shapes us here.

We all learn to let go, like learning to walk

When we first arrive here.

All those you thought you lost now circle you

And you are free of pain and heartbreak.

Don’t look back, keep going.

We will carry your memory here, until we join you

In just a little while, in one blink of star time.