Wakonda will cause the coming days to be calm and peaceful, The Tsízhu have called upon Wakonda to make the days calm and peaceful, That little ones may come to us in unbroken succession and we become a people. Wakonda will make the days beautiful. Toward the winds of the rising of the sun the days will surely be calm and peaceful. Toward the winds of the south Wakonda will make the days to be calm and peaceful. Toward the winds of the setting sun Wakonda will make the days to be calm and peaceful. Toward the winds of the land of cedars (the north) Wakonda will make the days to be calm and peaceful. THE TRIBAL PRAYER (_Omaha_) Father, a needy one before Thee stands. I am he! WAWAN SONG (_Omaha_) The clear sky, The green fruitful earth is good; But peace among men is better. THE MORNING SONG (_Cheyenne_) He, our Father, He hath shown His mercy unto me. In peace I walk the straight road. PART TWO POETIC FORMS IN AMERICAN INDIAN LYRICS POETIC FORMS IN AMERICAN INDIAN LYRICS The true touchstone of primitive verse is familiarity with aboriginal life and manners. Let the observer sit among the American Indians under a starlit sky in the far spaces of the desert, or with his horizon bound by native forests, where only blazed trails penetrate the shadows—wherever these people sing, encircling a quiet fire. Not even the folk-songs of the colored race on their native plantations convey the sense of detached unreality that comes with hearing these evening songs of the red race. When a thousand songs have beaten their way into his pulse, the listener may hope to understand both the form and the spirit of this verse. Only this certain recognition acquired by personal knowledge can direct him to sound judgments of the current pseudo-Indian verse. It is the only safe basis for comparison when studies lead far afield into the song-literature of many tribes. Many of us, however, cannot readily explore the remote places of aboriginal song. For such readers, fortunately, there is an increasing number of printed studies and of records gathered by our great museums. Even after wide observation and the close study of years, many questions will still remain to baffle us. To reconcile many apparent inconsistencies of Indian lyric verse forms, we must first understand the _thought-movement_ of this body of poetry before we approach the whole subject of _thought-rhythm_, with the questions of _repetition_ and of _stanzaic_ and _metrical structure_. In the mood of the poet, to be sure, lies the chief influence which shapes the poem and marks its larger formal characteristics of thought-movement and rhythm. There are the graceful, lilting verses that go swiftly to the golden melodies of some of the shorter lyrics, as in the _Song of the Coyote and Locust_; others which move in slow processional to stately chants, as in the odes of _The Night Chant_.