“The great sea ...”

By Uvavnuk Uvavnuk

Translated By Jane Hirshfield

The great sea

frees me, moves me,

as a strong river carries a weed.

Earth and her strong winds

move me, take me away,

and my soul is swept up in joy.

Uvavnuk, untitled shaman song, translated by Jane Hirshfield, from Women in Praise of the Sacred (New York: HarperCollins, 1994). Reprinted with the permission of the translator.

Source: Women in Praise of the Sacred (HarperCollins Publishers Inc, 1994)

Biography

One night, a small meteorite struck early-20th-century Iglulik Inuit shaman and oral poet Uvavnuk. This experience made her clairvoyant and marked the start of her life as a shaman. After being struck, she is said to have returned home singing a song-poem, which has since been widely anthologized; Jane Hirschfield included it in Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women (1994). Uvavnuk is thought . . .

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