Spirit of the Navajo (Pantoum)

Spirit of the Navajo How hard life has become Reciting prayers of long ago Alcohol an escape for some How hard life has become Water is a scarcity Alcohol an escape for some Look at them with pity Water is a scarcity Wells will soon run dry Look at them with pity How could one not cry Wells will soon run dry Land stolen, left alone How could one not cry True intentions shone Land stolen, left alone Reciting prayers of long ago True intentions shone Spirit of the Navajo Pantoum The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA. The design is simple: Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 Line 5 (repeat of line 2) Line 6 Line 7 (repeat of line 4) Line 8 Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last. Last stanza: Line 2 of previous stanza Line 3 of first stanza Line 4 of previous stanza Line 1 of first stanza