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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.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2022




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Date: 8/7/2022 3:59:00 AM
Terry, thank you for writing that. A total tragedy. And so true. They can not find the light. Beautiful. Keep rolling. Howard
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Date: 8/7/2022 2:21:00 AM
Very nicely done, Terry, expressing a feeling that is almost beyond comprehension. I don't know how our species has survived, we do so many things so wrong. Please see my poem Eye of the Needle. Take care. Elizabeth
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