Abundance

When you hear the word ‘subsistence’
Do you think of someone poor with an outstretched hand?
To us it means abundance
Living off the richness of the land

We’ve been here ten thousand years
Along this river shore
If there’s any justice left
We’ll be here ten thousand more

The first salmon of the season
We always take and give to someone else
Any game we carry home
We feed others before ourselves

No power known can ever force me
From this ancient place that gave me birth
From the richness of the river
And the abundance of the earth