The Untoong Poem by Russ von Ohlhausen

We enter the dance,
my kinsman and I.
We chant with the sacred sounds of the Earth,
we sing the ancient songs of the people.

I come to a place upon the ground
that looks like water but is solid.
I sit upon the Earth and
align my mind with how it feels there.

My spirit takes over and
lays my body upon the ground that is water.
My spirit climbs out of myself and
enters the place that takes me.

I leave my body,
I leave this mind.
I travel in the darkness,
I climb the strands into places I do not know.

I see the souls of all the kinsman of the Earth.
They too have come here to learn and seek god.
Many have long since left the place where we dwell.
There is no ‘time’ here.

I go to the place where god is,
I do what I have come to do here.
I learn what I have come to learn.
I go back to place where my body is.

I see myself there laying upon the ground
My body knows I am near and cries out.

That is the sound that I make,
this ‘Untoong’ that I do,
this ‘Untoong’ that I dance

I return to my body,
I enter my mind.
I am one with myself,
until the Earth calls me again.


~Arel