Shaman's Journey Song

Journey Song

I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.
All around
I float
among whirlpools.
All around
I float
among shadows.
I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.
Whose canoe
is this
I stand in?
The one
I stand in
with a stranger.
I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.

--Northwest Coast Tsimshian (1)

1. David Cloutier, Spirit, Spirit: Shaman Songs, Incantations (Providence: Copper Beech Press, 1973), pp. 67-68.