balm of gilead

Taki put the palm of her hand on the trunk of the tree.

"When I was an agnaiyaaq, a little girl, my aakaaluk, my grandmother, held this hand and walked me outside of Point Hope," she said, "And talked with me about the plants around us, the ones animals eat and don’t eat, and the ones that can be used for medicine.

This, Little Salt, is the Balm of Gilead tree."

Salito looked closely at the buds on the lower branches of the tree.

He breathed in deeply the sweet smell of the resin.

He whistled for the wonder of it all.

"Balm of Gilead resin can stop a cough,” she continued, “Or keep a cut from getting infected.

Hmmm. 

I wonder if it could help a mute boy in Point Hope from South Carolina via El Salvador talk, huh?”

Salito smiled a broad smile and looked deeply into her brown eyes.

“You can rub the resin on your skin or gargle it with water,” she continued, “Because it helps relieve burns and soothe sore throats.

It grows here in Point Hope, though the ground is mostly frozen.

Look at the heart shaped leaves. 

They remind me that the heart is the place where we learn to share.

Aakaaluk told me, she said, 'Taki, sharing is of the people, by the people, for the people. 

It keeps our hearts beating and our lives living in these Arctic lands.'"

She closed her eyes.

She placed her ear on the smooth, brown bark of the tree.

"I hear the tree," she whispered. 

"It’s saying, 'Take only what you need from nature. Use what you have to help others. Always be you.'"

Salito put the fingers of his hand on the petals of a  flower on the tree.

"When I was a niño, a little boy,” he whistled, “my abuelo held this hand and walked me outside the fields where we worked and lived.

He taught me about the plants around us there, the ones you can eat, the ones you can use for medicine.”

Salito took a small notebook out of his back pocket. He opened it to an izote flower with leaves on it’s stem pressed between the pages.

“It, Little Light, is the national flower of El Salvador."

Taki looked at the milky, bell shaped flower.

Salito handed the notebook to her.

She raised the flower to her ear and listened to it.

"You can eat the flowers,” he whistled.

“They help relieve arthritis and headaches.

You can break the stems and plant them in the ground.

They will take root and grow new izote plants.

Look at the sword shaped leaves.

They remind me of the will to live. 

They remind me that the pen is a sword and that I can write stories to help people understand each other and be kind to each other.

He closed his eyes. 

"I hear the flower,” Taki whispered again. 

“It’s saying, 'Seek the great forgotten language. Find your voice.”

She smiled at him.

She took a part of the Balm of Gilead tree and pressed it between two other pages in the notebook.

They walked back to Point Hope together.