Klamath River Blessing 

Let the waters of the Klamath be released.
Let the walls of the four hydroelectric dams be blasted apart, ripped down
   to bedrock, concrete and rebar pulverized
so only the scars will testify to what once
spoiled the river.
Let the rains come and wash away the remains—
the silt, the pesticides, the cyanobacteria
—all the old hatreds, the blood of genocide
   until the waters sweep away the past;
Let the waters, the mighty waters sweep down from the headwaters
through Ishi Pishi Falls, carrying away all the foulness
spilling out past Requa and the Klamath Bar
   until the living and the dead gather for the story of a river reborn;
Then let all that still swims return
—the Coho, the Chinook,
   the ancient Green Sturgeon,
   the Lost River and short-nosed suckers;
Let them leap and fight their way upriver to clean gravel beds
where the hens may rest their sacred eggs amidst the stones
   so the jacks may pass their blessing over this new generation;
And later when the offspring have returned, let us all gather to feast
—the heron, the coyote, the eagle and osprey, the brown bear,
the Yurok, the Hupa, the Karuk—all who still hunger for rebirth;
Yes, let the waters of the Klamath run wild once again
   and bowing to the dead, let all the world be renewed.

David Holper.