Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever had before
I dreamed the salmon all over the world
Were coming home no more
And the river no longer ran with red
When the aspens turned to gold
The children no longer leaned over the bridge
A miracle to behold
Like the miracle of the mystery
Of how the hell do they know
How to find their way back to the place they were spawned
Their whole lifetime ago
Turns out they could smell the water that flowed
Over rocks in their spawning ground’s bed
And they followed that smell back to where they began
In a nest that’s known as a redd
Their moms used their powerful side-to-side tails
To sweep gravel and stones aside
Then they laid down their eggs, and laid down their cares,
Let go of their struggles and died
The life that flowed out of their bodies that day
Leached into the water, then trees
Took it up in their roots and grew up to the sky
And gave oxygen away on the breeze
Then the bears dragged the carcasses into the woods
Trailing nutrients into the ground
Ocean fed forest and forest fed sky
And rain brought the circle around
The people that fished here for 10,000 years
On the banks of the river they wait
With their hands at their sides and their nets in their hands
Wond’ring why are the salmon so late?
With smoking wood ready and drying racks hung
For protein to see them to spring
If the salmon don’t come, hungry songs will be sung
& who knows what the winter will bring?
The bears and the eagles stood by the people’s side
Patiently watching downstream
When no silver flashing came toward them they cried
And I woke from my very sad dream
Then I sat up in bed, raised my hands to my head
And vowed that in all that I do
I’ll care for the salmon and the world that they need
So my sad dream will never come true.
Go to www.thinksalmon.com
And find out how to live your life
So the salmon can too
And you’ll also benefit trout
So remember whenever you’ve salmon in your mouth
To give thanks for the miracle food
That grows itself in the ocean to the south
And delivers itself to the mountains
– By Jenny Noble –
