An Indian Version Of The Twenty-third Psalm


The Great Father above a shepherd Chief is. 
I am His and with Him I want not. 
He throws out to me a rope and 
the name of the rope is love and 
He draws me to where the grass is green 
and the water not dangerous, 
and I eat and lie down and am satisfied. 
Sometimes my heart is very weak and falls down but 
He lifts me up again and draws me into a good road. 
His name is WONDERFUL.

Sometime, it may be very soon, 
it may be a long, long time. 
He will draw me into a valley. 
It is dark there, but I'll be afraid not, 
for it is in between those mountains 
that the Shepherd Christ will meet me 
and the hunger that I have in my heart 
all through this life will be satisfied.
He gives me a staff to lean upon. 

He spreads a table before me 
with all kinds of foods. 
He puts His hand upon my head 
and all the "tired" is gone. 
My cup He fills till it runs over. 
What I tell is true. I lie not. 
These roads that are "away ahead" 
will stay with me through this life and after; 
and afterwards I will go to live 
in the Big Tepee and sit down
 with the Shepherd Chief forever.
~Isabel Crawford
(Missionary to the Indians of the plains)