Trail of Tears

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Image may contain: one or more people, snow, sky and outdoor

The Trail Of Tears.
.
The snow fell when the long knifes came
Savages who robbed the sacred homelands 
And buffalo slaughtered bloody plains
Men woman and children the old and lame
Frog marched against their will
Never to see they’re homeland again
They’re hearts so full of pain
.
And the big chief in Washington
In his big tall ivory tower
Declared the native American
Should live how he pleased
Even though it took the native Americans
Dignity away and fall to the ground 
Like chopped down falling trees
.
Thousands upon thousands
Wounded souls resigned to they’re defeat
Walked the long trail of tears
With their little belongings and sore feet
Many sick and old
Succumbed to hunger illness and the cold
Countless frozen bodies lay like ice blocks
Littering the snow  
The big chief in Washington
Won the days and the demon sold his soul
.
From the prosperous green Caroline's
To Oklahoma and apathy 
By a mad cruel man’s greed 
And decree
. 
Forced  to become farmers
When just a dust bowl is all they found
And nothing would grow from the ground
A once proud mighty nation
Did an ancestral dance
Hopeful it would return them 
To they’re scared homelands
As hunters and the buffalo 
Would again return given half a chance
. 
They’re dreams were fruitless
And lost forever in the river of dreams
The depths of they’re sorrow so deep
That haunted they’re waking hours
And the one’s they’d sleep
.
They sent the young ones to schools in New York
 To be educated in the white man’s ways
While those left  behind
In the reserve concentration camps
Wandered like ghosts in limbo
And rotted in their graves
.
The wheel of history rotates
But the same things always come around
The person with the biggest stick
Lays the law down
. 
The black man kidnapped from his home 
And shipped to be sold as slaves
When will all this end
And when will man love everyone 
No matter who they be
But the truth is many don’t care
And all they are concerned about
Is themselves power and greed
.
Thousands upon millions of stories
Never to be told 
Lost forever
Since days of old
Man cannot even
Direct his own footstep
So the good book says
There is no real justice and we are living in
The last days.
. 
Peter Dome©2021.

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Sara Kendrick

Date: 6/9/2022 3:08:00 PM

Sad when a nation is displaced, but someday wrongs will be righted. I enjoyed reading your political and social work. Sara

Jennifer Fenn

Date: 2/26/2021 8:27:00 PM

This is so poignant Peter. I like how you write with bite, not sparing any details. Your images are amazing. I studied this in US history but only briefly. This is the first poem I’ve read about the Trail of Tears. It makes me sad, just like the Armenian genocide. They were made to march through the desert with so few belongings and so many perished.

Alexis Y.

Date: 2/7/2021 2:25:00 PM

WoW! Peter, It breaks my heart to read such a write; it's hard to read. It is a well-written and informative piece. This poem resonated with me deeply. Thanks for penning such an eye-opening write, my friend - Alexis