Trail of Tears
by Randy Handley
No more beautiful moons
May we spend on our land
In the north, the scarlet council talks of war
And the long knives have massacred
The tribe and burned corn
We're not welcome in our homeland anymore
There will be a trail of tears
There will be a trail of pain
And Jackson will have the Mississippi
And the twenty-dollar bill
But for us the trail is all that will remain
No more songs of the hunters
On the buffalo plain
No more smoke from sacred fires touch these hills
And the numbers of the people
Grow fewer every mile
and our children will not learn
The Great Spirit's ways
There will be a trail of tears
There will be a trail of pain
And Jackson will have the Mississippi
And the twenty-dollar bill
But for us the trail is all that will remain
On the streets of Rapid City
On the road to Wounded Knee
There is whiskey for forgetting every thing
But the old ones say there may
Be time learning from each other
The way that it had once
Been meant to be
There is still a trail of tears
There is still a trail of pain
Jackson has got the Mississippi
And the twenty-dollar bil
But for us the trail of tears remains
Jackson has got the Mississippi
And the twenty dollar bill
But how long will the trail of tears remain
Copyright 1985 by Tessa Publishing Co.
From the John Denver album "Dreamland Express"