The Great Crossing
Keeper of the Threshold
I was given my Indian name through a near-death experience. It didn’t come from my parents — it came from my third great-grandmother, a Cherokee woman who walked the Trail of Tears. I never met her, but she carried the name across to me: Keeper of the Threshold.
When I told this story, someone asked, “What does that name mean?” I said, “It means I stand at the crossing, between life and what waits beyond.” She stopped. Her eyes widened. “Are you serious?” In that moment, she understood.
Most people who come back from a near-death experience say, “My life passed before my eyes.” For me, my life didn’t pass by — it began unfolding in new ways every single day. Dreams, encounters, and ancestral voices continue to update me, piece by piece.
This song — The Great Crossing — is not for profit. It belongs to the ancestors, to the lost souls who carried no names across oceans and along trails. It is given freely, for everyone to hear.
Lyrics
The Great Crossing – Full Song Chorus (Foundation Hum): Hum… hum… hum… We remember when they forgot We remember when we were not Hum… hum… hum… Now we rise — we were never gone Now we hum — the forgotten song Verse One: The little ones not forgotten Be with us till we meet again Your hum echoes through the land We carry your name in wind No stone was needed to mark you The field remembers what they hid And now you walk beside us In the breath between what is and what has been Verse Two: We speak in tones of thunder But move like drifting rain Our silence shaped the seasons Our tears became refrain No ledger held our story But memory stitched it whole And every hum you carry Rewrites the missing roll Bridge: We are not shadows fading We are the roots beneath your feet Each hum a path unbroken Each breath where voices meet Final Chorus: Hum… hum… hum… We return with no parade We return without a name Hum… hum… hum… But in the hush you call us And in the hum, we rise again