Prayer for the Great Family

Gratitude to Mother Earth,
sailing through night and day—
and to her soil: rich, rare and sweet
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Plants,
the sun-facing, light-changing leaf
and fine root-hairs;
standing still through wind and rain; their dance is in the flowering spiral grain
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Air,
bearing the soaring Swift and silent
Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Wild Beings,
our brothers, teaching secrets,
freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave and aware
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Water:
clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
holding or releasing;
streaming through all our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Sun:
blinding pulsing light through trunks of trees, through mists,
warming caves where bears and snakes sleep— he who wakes us—
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars—
and goes yet beyond that—
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us—
Grandfather Space.
The Mind is his Wife.
so be it.


after a Mohawk prayer

Gary Snyder, Turtle Island
New Directions, New York, 1974, pp. 24-25