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SHAME AND SHUFFLING FEET
Last night I heard the sound of shuffling feet
thousands, to many to behold
and in my dreams I saw them, one and all
they walked as tho they'ed lost their very soul
the old ones bowed down in shame and endless woe
shattered lives that only lived in pain
there prodded with the white mans aweful blow
stumbling, wailing down the road they came
helpless weeping came from the younger ones
as they limped on witb bare and ragged feet
care not if their weary, worn or tired
keep them going, no time for rest of sleep
through hills and tumbling streams they traveled on
through bush or bramble or trails scarred deep
old sharp stones
one mass of human misery on that day
carrying nothing or anything they owned
I dreamed of thousands, homeless now
as I tossed restless, in the night upon my bed
I saw the starving and the weeping lost
I saw the children dead
no more to see green fields of tall and slender corn
or fish in rushing waters free and wild
no more to hunt the deer, the turkey,or the bear
No more to be Great Spirit's happy child
Today I hear the sound of shuffling feet
as they traveled on toward hell
and oh, the suffering they endured
not many lived to tell
Ride on, proud soldiers dressed in blue
approval met by great generals in the east
are now proud of all the torture tnat now you've done
I think not, no, not in the least
On now, to Oklahoma's baren land
where bolders grow instead of seed
and as they massed in thousands one sad day
they found that what grew best was tares and weeds
Oh Cherokee and Creek and many more
and crying families left with broken hearts
as the white man lives on forevermore
and seems he never will depart
Oh, high and mighty soldiers of this land
do you feel no remorse or guilt for what you've done
for it was you who drove these innocent people onward
toward their death
and shame on you, for your race too, will soon be run
now near two hundred years have come qnd gone
and still these shuffling feet are heard
and many can see them still stumbling down that trail
where not a spoken word was heard
