Trail of Tears (Ballade)

 

Pushed off the land that they’ve lived on for years

not wanting to leave their native homelands

Indians forced down a trail of tears

as tribal leaders explain their demands

Courts rule in favor of Indian lands

Executive Branch is not on their side

President Jackson has made other plans

At the end of a rifle, they abide

 

Rounded up like cattle, driven like steers

while Army Generals hand down commands

Army officers advance their careers

Indigenous people try to take stands

but their fate is in somebody else’s hands

Stripped of their dignity, stripped of their pride

marched across rivers and left on the strands

At the end of a rifle, they abide

 

Mothers and children succumb to their fears

as the nation continually expands

Forced to move to unfamiliar frontiers

for reasons only history understands

disputed terrain begins to change hands

they now realize that the government lied

as they walk through unfamiliar sands

At the end of a rifle, they abide

 

Through all of the sorrow a human withstands

on a trail of tears where many have died

they walk as their society disbands

At the end of a rifle, they abide