Trail Of Tears (Ballade) Poem by Charlie Parant

lPushed 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
ike those before who'd made the trip