Nancy Wood Literary Trust

From Spirit Walker, 1993, by Nancy Wood

The hearts of mountains

and the hearts of women

Are both the same. They beat to

an old rhythm, an old song.

Mountains and women

are made from the sinew of the rock.

Mountains and women

are home to the spirits of the earth.

Mountains and women

are created with beauty all around.

Mountains and women

embrace the mystery of life.

Mountains give patience to women.

Women give fullness to mountains.

Celebrate each mountain, each woman.

Sing songs to mountains and to women.

Dance for them in your dreams.

The spirit of mountains and of women

Will give courage to our children

Long after we are gone.

From Sacred Fire, 1998, by Nancy Wood

Every day I bathe myself in light

and write my name in stars across the sky.

Every day I am the Fire of Life, burning

with the intensity of the Sun. The Wind cannot

blow away such passion, nor can Rain drown

the ash of love, knowing it will burn again.

Every day I bathe myself in light and dance

to the music that rivers make on their

way to the sea. The Earth hears my prayers

and gives my body a familiar form,

feminine in nature, strong and surviving.

Every day I write my name

in stars across the Universe: I am love.

The power of my flame

rises with the fury of my dreams.

From Spirit Walker, 1993, by Nancy Wood

Women, you must learn to be warriors

Now when times are dark and our men

Are afraid to tell us what is in their hearts.

There is so much trouble in our land

That it is up to you to decide

Which direction the wind must blow.

Women, you are our tree of life

Just as you were a long time ago

When a man said: carry my seed.

If you go forth from this darkness,

Telling our story of courage and survival,

Then our tree will grow strong with your words.

Women, do not worry about tomorrow.

Even when daylight is long in coming,

The sun remembers its place in the sky.

Take this blue shawl of knowledge and

Wrap it around your daughters, telling them

That women must not be afraid to be warriors.

From Spirit Walker, 1993, by Nancy Wood

Why look for answers, my child,

Among the people you meet?

Why believe there is fulfillment

In your narrow life of work?

Why sacrifice the gift of loneliness

To fill up the time with diversion?

Look inside every living thing you find.

Feel the energy of rocks and leaves, hummingbirds

and cactus.

Dwell for a moment in a single blade of grass.

Discover the secret of snowflakes.

In these patterns lie harmony, my child.

In harmony, the universe.

Poem broadsheet includes a Nancy Wood photograph of Violet Smith, coal mine owner, Hesperus, CO, circa 1978.

From Many Winters, 1974, by Nancy Wood

I am a woman.
I hold up half of the sky.
I am a woman.
I nourish half of the earth.
I am a woman.
The rainbow touches my shoulders.
The universe encircles my eyes.