kâh-kîhtwâm ~ Again and Again

“kinisitohtên cî?” Dad asked,

and I didn’t, môya,

because I hadn’t listened enough,

hadn’t heard the words

quite often enough,

did not, could not, repeat

what I hadn’t heard.

môya nikî-kaskihtân ka-tâpowêyân osâm

môya ê-kî-pâh-pêhtamân osâm

môya tâpwê ê-kî-nâ-nitohtawak.

But even as I thought I didn’t understand

because I hadn’t listened,

suddenly I could hear

that to understand Cree

is to listen to Cree,

repeatedly.

ka-nisitohtamân nêhiyawêwin

ka-kî-nâh-nêhiyawi-nitohtamân

kâh-kîhtwâm.

More often than the sun

lowers or lifts,

the moon slumbers or stirs.

Oftener even than I heft a pen

to wrench words

from the recesses of thought.

Suddenly I could hear it.

Can you hear it now,

as I repeat it? To understand

Cree is to listen to Cree,

repeatedly.

ka-nisitohtamân nêhiyawêwin

ka-kî-nâh-nêhiyawi-nitohtamân

kâh-kîhtwâm.

As the hands of the day

rotate round the sun,

as the North Star submits

to the Morning Star,

when geese depart in August

and return in goose month —

niski-pîsim — as March slips

into April and ayîki-pîsim

echoes with the exuberant exclamations

of ayîkisak for their mates,

aniki ayîkisak kâ-nikamocik

kâ-nâ-nikamocik,

to understand Cree is to listen

to Cree, again and again.

ka-nisitohtamân nêhiyawêwin

ka-kî-nâh-nêhiyawi-nitohtamân

kâh-kîhtwâm.

As our hearts beat

over and over,

ê-pâh-pahkahokoyahk kâh-kîhtwâm.

As we take in

the clean air of life,

ê-yâ-yêhyêyahk kâh-kîhtwâm.

The way water washes

thirst from our lips,

ê-mâ-minihkwêyahk nipiy kâh-kîhtwâm.

Just as the North Saskatchewan River

courses continually

through the carotid of the prairies,

ê-pâ-pimiciwahk kisiskâciwani-sîpiy kâkikê.

How a mother bear protects her young,

êkosi ê-mâ-manâcihât otoskawâsisa

aniki tâpiskôc maskosisak

kâ-mâ-mêcawêsiyit kâh-kîhtwâm.

When a freckle on a cheek,

a certain curve of jaw, a way of smiling,

or a long strong bone returns to the next

generation or the next one

after that, especially when

the great-grandchildren play

those same games, say those same words,

sing those same songs,

when the grandfathers tell the grandchildren

yet another story,

to understand Cree is to listen to Cree

again and again and again.

wâh-pâ-pê-kîwêcik

câhcahkêwin aniwâhk,

tâpiskan ôma kâ-wâ-wâkamok

ê-isi-pâh-pâhpisit, ahpô ê-kâ-kinwâk

êkwa ê-sâsôhkahk ôma oskan

wâh-pâ-pê-isinâkosit ohci wîtisânîhitowin

âniskotâpân ahpô kihc-âniskotâpân

êwako ani

wâwîs cî

wâh-mâ-mêcawêcik âniskotâpânak,

êwako anihi mêcawêwina, wâh-pâ-pîkiskwêyit

êwako anihi itwêwina,

wâh-nâ-nikamoyit êwako anihi nikamowina,

wâh-ây-âcimostawâcik omosômimâwak

ocâpânimiwâwa kotak âcimowin

ka-nêhiyawi-nisitohtamihk

ka-kî-nâ-nitohtamihk nêhiyawêwin

kâh-kîhtwâm.