As part of my English major, I took an American Literature class. It was with one of my favorite professors in the department, and we read a lot of different works that touched me in ways I wasn't expecting in a survey course.
One of my favorite pieces from the entire semester is a chant from the Zuni people, a Native American tribe. It's called Sayatasha's Night Chant. The entire thing is beautiful, but I found this part especially moving:
May you be blessed with light;
May your roads be fulfilled;
May you grow old;
May you be blessed in the chase;
To where the life-giving road of your sun father comes out
May your roads reach;
May your roads all be fulfilled. (as recorded in the Norton's Anthology of American Literature Vol. 1)
After we read it, my professor made a habit of ending each class by saying to us, "May your roads reach." I've since taken it on as one of my personal mantras or prayers.
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