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11 Navajo Flute First sighted on the 8th of October 1888 by Colonel Lemuel Chenowidden near Dulce, New Mexico, the Navajo Flute flutters in the air, a bird in a minor chord, a last note. When her song dies, you hold that note in your ear. In your heart. Elusive, a half-remembered refrain, the Navajo Flute lifts from lower branch to crown and down again, hovering hummingbird-like in morning light. Her song is a Siren song, luring you to places you should never go, deserts where you lose your way, cliffs where all you can do is fall. Native people say her song is a spirit song. Like the name of God it cannot be spoken. Listen: do not try to imitate. Not even the mockingbird, black and white cousin, can get it right. Others say you can only hear her song if your heart has cracked with grief, that the tune seeps through your skin to the river of woe, that it sails its note of memory along that stream, that it tells you you can bear it, after all. ...

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