Chéemyaach ik vúra ishyãat imshírihraavish
Hurry, Spring Salmon, you must shine upriver
WILL HARLING
Hold in the deep gorges, the high reaches
Of the Salmon River
Dillon Creek, Wooley
Creek
The Klamath runs low again this year
Falling in the Spring
It left bone white lines
On the bedrock shore
Here is where the snowmelt peaked
Here is where the Klamath
Irrigation Project opened
Here is the level where
33,000 spring Chinook salmon
Turned their shining
bellies to the sky
Before their eggs were
laid to gravel
Farmers getting full
water deliveries
While cashing in on
government subsidies
But downriver we feel the
squeeze
Pacified and placated by
Bush bureaucracies
As fish begin again to
die of the disease
The river runs hot again this year
Like a bathtub only half
full heats faster in the sun
More water in the “A”
Canal and Link River
Than coming from the Iron
Gate to the Klamath
The river runs quiet over the stones
Silent in the pools where
algae grows thick
Fish crowd into the creek
mouths to stay alive
Chéemyaach ik vúra ishyãat imshírihraavish
Hurry, Spring Salmon, you must shine
upriver
As this river is the life blood of these mountains
You are the holy bread,
the sacrament
Without you the river
would stop flowing
For lack of reason
The trees would stop
growing
And we would go hungry
With the kind of hunger
that eats your soul
This is not about potatoes or fish
This is not farmers
against tribes and fisherman
It is about a God who
would dare grant Man
Dominion over all things
Versus a Creator who
would ask us to be humble
And consider the needs of
all living things
In every action