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"

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