How we cite our quotes: (Poem.Paragraph)
Quote #4
He repeated the words as he remembered them, not sure if they were the right ones, but feeling they were right, feeling the instant of the dawn was an event which in a single moment gathered all things together—the last stars, the mountaintops, the clouds, and the winds—celebrating this coming. (XXIV.1)
A lot of the rituals Tayo observes come to him intuitively. His relationship with the natural world is very, well…natural.
Quote #5
Tayo got to his knees slowly and held out his hand. "Mountain lion," he whispered, "mountain lion, becoming what you are with each breath, your substance changing with the earth and the sky." (XXIV.38-39)
Though Tayo is worried that the earth might mistake him for one of the destroyers, this mountain lion comes to him in a time of great need. It seems the earth knows that Tayo is one of the good guys after all. The last time weran into a mountain lion was definitely not this uplifting.
Quote #6
But he saw the constellation in the north sky, and the fourth star was directly above him; the pattern of the ceremony was in the stars, and the constellation formed a map of the mountains in the directions he had gone for the ceremony. For each star there was a night and a place; this was the last night and the last place, when the darkness of night and the light of day were balanced. (XXV.224)
Tayo sees the path of his ceremony outlined in the constellation of stars in the sky. That takes his relationship with the natural world to a whole new level, doesn't it?