Everyday I wear the fire of the Sun across my face
It burns its smile in many directions
Since the day my mother gave birth to me
Where I was made with the dirt
Covered by the buffalo many times
My father showed his love
To my mother in secret
And she gave him me as gratitude
For every arrow that struck
Every animal to fill our bellies
Every skin we wear
Every tool we use to make what we need
And every blanket that kept us warm
Now we see the Ghost from tomorrow
The Pale One with round eyes
He and his wife and children
They come smiling
But say nothing about taking our land
They scar the Earth with tools
They build strange shelters made from mud and grass and trees
And shiny openings through which to look out
They do not ask for our land in trade
Only invite themselves
And paint strange pictures that make magic
They say their chief makes the land for them
One day I rode across my free land and my eyes played tricks
I saw horses pull more Pale Ones
We began to call the white men
Each group that came
Made more behind them
They claim my land and my father\'s land
Every day they came and took more and gave back less
They offer no trade
They refused to smoke peace with us
We had to learn their talk
And we learned they would take no time to ask
Just take with nothing in return
Many moons and many years later
I would dance less for The Great Spirit
For there across the face of the ground
My father, mother, brother, sister
One by one would bleed
One by one we cry
One by one the Pale Ones
With no Sun in their eyes or hearts
Would take away every name
Every village and every hunting ground
With more paintings that bear no value
Because the more they came
The more we would lose
Until in the end our eyes could cry no more
Only the sky weeps for me
And I have nothing left of value.
Copyright © 2015 Charles Edward York
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