One of Those Wonderful Nights
Alootook Ipellie

Alootook Ipellie is on of the most prolific contemporary Inuit journalists. His stories, poems and articles have appeared in North, Inuktitut, Inukshuk and Tukisiviksat. He is also the principal writer for Inuit Today, in which this poem was published in April 1974. Ipellie grew up in the settlement of Frobisher Bay, but in his poems he often seems to have lived the old, nomadic camp life of his grandfather.

It was one of those wonderful nights
When we gathered at the dance house.
I recall the familiar sights
When everyone laughed and danced
And had a tremendous time.
The great drums were booming,
Hands were clapping,
And happy faces were rocking back
And forth with the rhythmic dancing
Of the woman who had four legs.
Happy were those days when this
Woman danced all night long without
Resting for a moment
She gave us so much joy,
So much feeling for life,
That the hazards of the land were
Forgotten
On one of those wonderful nights
When we gathered at the dance house.