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The trail
The Trail
It happened not so long ago
Starting in the southern state
A Promise at first, was promised
Then trust was broken that day
Can you imagine
how you would feel
Told to move where you've lived all your life
Made to pack up
forced to walk many of miles
my goodness look at the strife..
Trails only left
that had run down his face
Trails was left
once we had left our home place
Trails was left
on all of our hearts
Trails was left
forced to make a new start
Some decided
not to go, but to stay
Died with their honor
Last breaths they would take
Others sided with the white man
Forced into slavery
Or die by his hand.
Our world was our own
Then forced into change,
Thought that we never
would look back again
Even though it's our homeland
they didn't care
it was now start of white man
This world they bear
Then all our lives journey began
Just one step at a time
Single steps turn to millions
And at a high cost
all the bodies we left far behind
The new and the old
all perished away
as we continued on our journey
They say that we didn't
even have time to stop
To give our dead
a death mourning.
So we gently grieved
To each of ourselves
As we carried on our way
Our strong hearts and bonds
To each of our kind
helped support us
In our own sublime way
We carried on
as though not to care
Promise from white man
that he soon would share
When finally reached
Was our new destination
And that they had called it
A reservation
Though It wasn't the same
With the abundance of beauty,
and all the wild game
No rolling rivers that our ancestors named
No wondrous mountains
Now only plains
With guilt in our hearts
Accepted this stain
That if we had fought
That none would remain
So now it's our life
To endure as we can
That we won't fight, so to live
In spite of this man
Sadly, all we have left
Is what you see here
Only our memories to hold our hearts dear
How they have changed us,
caged us it's true
Left us to salvage
Although some still brew
If ever you journey
the path our ancestors took
just follow the wildest of rose
where ever a death or a teardrop fell
the beautiful flower now grows
We also have
the words never forget
It's seared in each of our brains
It shows of the struggles but fortitude's
Trail of tears would be its true name
Redbuck
© Mark Gollihue
It happened not so long ago
Starting in the southern state
A Promise at first, was promised
Then trust was broken that day
Can you imagine
how you would feel
Told to move where you've lived all your life
Made to pack up
forced to walk many of miles
my goodness look at the strife..
Trails only left
that had run down his face
Trails was left
once we had left our home place
Trails was left
on all of our hearts
Trails was left
forced to make a new start
Some decided
not to go, but to stay
Died with their honor
Last breaths they would take
Others sided with the white man
Forced into slavery
Or die by his hand.
Our world was our own
Then forced into change,
Thought that we never
would look back again
Even though it's our homeland
they didn't care
it was now start of white man
This world they bear
Then all our lives journey began
Just one step at a time
Single steps turn to millions
And at a high cost
all the bodies we left far behind
The new and the old
all perished away
as we continued on our journey
They say that we didn't
even have time to stop
To give our dead
a death mourning.
So we gently grieved
To each of ourselves
As we carried on our way
Our strong hearts and bonds
To each of our kind
helped support us
In our own sublime way
We carried on
as though not to care
Promise from white man
that he soon would share
When finally reached
Was our new destination
And that they had called it
A reservation
Though It wasn't the same
With the abundance of beauty,
and all the wild game
No rolling rivers that our ancestors named
No wondrous mountains
Now only plains
With guilt in our hearts
Accepted this stain
That if we had fought
That none would remain
So now it's our life
To endure as we can
That we won't fight, so to live
In spite of this man
Sadly, all we have left
Is what you see here
Only our memories to hold our hearts dear
How they have changed us,
caged us it's true
Left us to salvage
Although some still brew
If ever you journey
the path our ancestors took
just follow the wildest of rose
where ever a death or a teardrop fell
the beautiful flower now grows
We also have
the words never forget
It's seared in each of our brains
It shows of the struggles but fortitude's
Trail of tears would be its true name
Redbuck
© Mark Gollihue
