| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Chief’s Prayer after the Salmon Catch | | By Constance Lindsay Skinner |
| | From “Songs of the Coast-dwellers”
O KIA-KUNAE, praise! | |
| Thou hast opened thy hand among the stars, | |
| And sprinkled the sea with food; | |
| The catch is great; thy children will live. | |
| See, on the roofs of the villages, the red meat drying; | 5 |
| Another year thou hast encompassed us with life. | |
| Praise! Praise! Kunae! | |
| O Father, we have waited with shut mouths; | |
| With hearts silent, and hands quiet, | |
| Waited the time of prayer, | 10 |
| Lest with fears we should beset thee, | |
| And pray the unholy prayer of asking. | |
| We waited silently; and thou gavest life. | |
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| Oh, praise! Praise! Praise! | |
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| Open the silent mouths, the shut hearts, my tribe: | 15 |
| Sing high the prayer of Thanksgiving, | |
| The prayer He taught in the beginning to the Kwakiutl— | |
| The good rejoicing prayer of thanks. | |
| As the sea sings on the wet shore, when the ice thunders back, | |
| And the blue water floats again, warm, shining, living, | 20 |
| So break thy ice-bound heart, and the cold lip’s silence— | |
| Praise Kunae for life, as wings up-flying, as eagles to the sun. | |
| Praise! Praise! Praise! | | | | |
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