Blueberries. Photo by Alex Ushakoff, Unsplash.

Blueberry’s Story*

By Louisa Loveridge Gallas

Once upon a time
stones spoke to us.
All beings and creatures
understood each other,
during hardship,
cared for each other.

As we humans starved
Black Bear found
the last surviving infant,
plucked you,
sacred blueberry,
from a thriving bush.
As she fed you to the child
a tiny flap appeared
that hangs down forever
in the darkness
of our throat: the uvula
to remind us again
of our bond,
how other beings
serve us
so we may protect them
and ourselves.

A gentle tug releases you
into our basket of sweetgrass
whose fragrance mutes
the singed air from wildfires,
every single berry precious
as we gather you,
fresh,
a sweetness
in the midst
of our world’s furies.

New life grows from dirt.

So may our redemption.

*An Ojibwe legend