This poetic prayer was introduced to me at the Mnjikaning First Nation Thanksgiving Pow Wow, on October 9th, 2004. I share it as an "inter-faith" expression of something many of us feel when canoeing in solitude on remote Algonquin lakes.   . . . . Barry Bridgeford


An Old Indian Prayer


O' Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me!
I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy - - myself.

Make me always ready to come to you with
clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.