“House Made of Dawn” Washington Matthews

 

Washington Mattews was an American anthropologist and historian of Native Americans. He recorded and translated many Navajo stories, tales, and poems for the American Museum of Natural History. In 1902 he offered a “Navajo Night Chant” which was traditionally sung/chanted as part of a nine-day ceremony.

Matthews’s collection deserves to be read by the open-hearted. I offer a brief extract below, that reminds us that gratitude and not supplicating requests are a lovely window through which to view the world. And to clarify in context, “It is finished in beauty” refers to the World being “finished in beauty”—finish as in the decorative touches as one might see added by a Master Craftsman.

With beauty before me, I walk.

With beauty behind me, I walk.

With beauty below me, I walk.

With beauty above me, I walk.

With beauty all around me, I walk.

It is finished in beauty,

It is finished in beauty,

It is finished in beauty,

It is finished in beauty.