Bitter Tears

I’m a modern Native American Recalling with pride Our mighty Indian Nations Before the attempted Genocide. The tide of invaders that Washed across these lands With conquest in their hearts And guns in their hands. They said we were savages They just didn’t understand We lived in harmony with nature Loved and respected our land. They came to our campfires Took the Pipe of Peace to smoke Gave us their worthless treaties Which they just as casually broke.. They killed us with their weapons Gave us their strange diseases Gave our warriors firewater Behaved just as they pleased, Then they took the remnants Of our once proud nations And herded them to the misery of The confines of the reservations. Thinking of the degradation Of those many wasted years, Thinking of the shame, The millions of unshed tears. Somehow we few survived Against all the many odds Perhaps blessed by Manitou Our life force God of all Gods. I’m a modern Native American And we’re regaining our pride Proud of those once mighty nations Before the attempted Genocide.