In a time before time, a giant crater formed in the ground

then crumbled, leaving a high bluff carved along a creek.

The Great Serpent, feeling Earth move, followed pathways

underground to a cave beside the creek then slithered to the top.

The Day was hot but not too hot; Mother Earth held its

warmth within her belly, heating the soil enough to make

the Great Serpent so drowsy he fell asleep. Birds could not

rouse him from his slumber as Sun slipped behind the earth.

Moon sang a lullaby as Stars rose into Sky and Serpent dreamed

of the mighty explosion that had created the hole and the bluff.

He lay sleeping for so long, the form of his body impressed Earth

with the its perfection so she kept it after he slid away.

When People began roaming Earth and found Serpent’s shape

embedded on the bluff, they filled it with rock and soil to mold

into the shape of snake to visit and to pray and sing and dance,

where Sun, Moon and Stars rose among the Serpent’s coils.

Many years followed with first People never forgetting their love

of Serpent until all those who remembered were gone, their ways

forgotten. People who came later stumbled across the effigy but

lacked imagination to explain it, calling it an unresolved enigma.

But Serpent still remembers when People loved him as well as

Earth and Sun, Moon and Stars. In the depth of night, he sings a

mournful lullaby about the time before time when all creation

celebrated the wonder of life and the miracle of its existence.